Sunsets Aren't Blue
by Livewire1306
Summary: Captain Kania Felix isn't an ordinary turian. But then, the Andromeda Initiative doesn't call for the ordinary...
1. Chapter 1

"Don't say anything unless someone speaks directly to you."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"If you do speak, keep it short, and to the point."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"And lastly, don't fuck this up for me."

"Yes, Ma'am."

The door slid open, revealing the entirety of the Palaven Primacy gathered around a circular glass table. The four turians turned to face the newcomers. Their chests bore a vast array of colours, each detailing a campaign or merit they had earned in the course of duty. The Primacy watched their every step carefully, weighing them up with a lifetime of military experience. After several steps, Colonel Scipia Zarius snapped her feet together, straightened her back, and thrust her chest out in a perfect, parade-ground salute. Her eyes were fixed straight ahead, staring over the heads of the Primacy. Captain Kania Felix, remembering that she wasn't supposed to fuck this up for her superior, followed suit. The Primacy returned the salute, but did not give the signal to stand at ease. Kania and Scipia continued to stare straight ahead, their eyes fixed on the wall behind the Primacy. Both were dressed in the signature grey dress uniforms of the 26th Armiger Legion. Their chests were also stacked with a variety of multi-coloured ribbons, though they paled in comparison to the Primacy. Kania stood a little taller than her superior, and had dark red tattoos down the left side of her face. Scipia Zarius, though shorter than Kania, was stockier. She had black tattoos covering most of her face, and a deep scar running from her brow to her chin.

"Colonel Zarius," the Primarch, Rexus Fedorian, acknowledged her curtly, then passed his eyes over Kania. "And this must be… Captain Felix. She is your proposal for the Prospero's Pathfinder team?"

"Yes, Sir." Zarius said, emotionlessly.

"Valedictorian at the Pompeii Brutus Military University," Fedorian examined the datapad in his hand. "Several Distinguished Service Crosses. Recipient of the Virtuti Militari, very impressive. A former hastatim. Interesting. You were on Taetrus?"

"I was, Sir." Kania replied. Her eyes hardened.

When the turian military subdued a world, the engineer corps set up safe camps for the civilian population. After that, the hastatim moved into the cities. They worked door-to-door, executing anyone that remained. Though this was sanctioned by the turian military, it did nothing to dispel the infamous reputation of the hastatim as death squads that roamed the streets, killing anything that moved. Taetrus had been particularly trying for the hastatim units. Kania had lost several friends there.

"That was bloody work." Fedorian nodded understandingly.

How could he understand though, Kania thought. He wasn't there. He didn't have to watch his friends bleed to death in the middle of the street, pinned down by sniper fire. He didn't have to execute the families that stayed behind.

"Is that who we want representing us in Andromeda?" Field Marshall Juris Hadrian barked, his gravelly voice a perfect match for his scarred faced. "A hastatim?"

" _Former_ hastatim, Sir," Kania stated, still staring blankly ahead. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the muscles in Colonel Zarius' neck tighten. "I transferred to the 26th Armiger Legion after Taetrus."

"Former or not," Hadrian growled, "They bring a certain… reputation… with them."

"As does the Armiger Legion," Fleet Admiral Irix Coronati appraised Kania with his steely eyes. "And it's no secret that they don't accept just any transfer. But the hastatim do play fast and loose with the rules. I must say, I'm not completely convinced by this sudden change of heart. It appears too convenient. Just two months before the recruitment process begins."

Kania bit on her tongue before she said something that she might later regret.

"As Field Marshall Hadrian said, this is supposed to be the tip of the spear," Air Marshall Augustus Maximus folded his arms over his chest. Kania noticed that his medals extended halfway down his chest. "They should represent the turian ideology: honour, duty, discipline, sacrifice. There's no doubt that any member of the Armiger Legion lives and breathes those words. Though I do agree with Admiral Coronati. I'm unsure if, in the short time that Captain Felix has been with the Legion, she has had the time to acclimatise to these principles."

"Exactly," snarled Hadrian, "Honour, duty, discipline, sacrifice. Ideals the hastatim have no problem trampling all over."

"Permission to speak freely, Sirs." Kania barked at the wall.

Everyone looked at her, mouths agape. Kania gritted her teeth. Zarius had warned her against doing exactly this.

"Permission granted, Captain," Fedorian said quietly, a bemused expression on his face.

"Field Marshall, Air Marshall, you both spoke of honour, duty, service, sacrifice," Kania stated, still looking straight at the wall. She tried to keep her voice neutral, though there was anger creeping into it. She could feel Zarius glaring at her. "In the hastatim, we weren't particularly proud of what we did, but we did it regardless. Because someone had to. If the hastatim hadn't been on Taetrus, we would still be fighting there today. Innocent people would still be dying. We fought and died in the streets so that others wouldn't have to. Sirs."

Silence followed her speech. Kania clamped her mouth shut, silently berating herself.

"I think we have everything we need, Captain," Fedorian nodded. "You are both dismissed. You will be informed of our decision by the end of the day."

Zarius and Kania snapped to attention, then simultaneously spun on their heels and marched from the room.

"Did I not tell you," Zarius spat as they strode down the corridor. "To speak only when spoken to?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Kania said blankly.

"Did I not tell you to keep your answers short, and to the point?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"And did I not tell you," Zarius stopped suddenly, and rounded on Kania. "Don't fuck this up for me?"

"Yes, Ma'am," Kania said to the wall behind Zarius.

"So what the fuck do you call that?" Zarius shouted, pointing back down the corridor at the Primacy Chamber. Zarius sighed, and rubbed her brow in exasperation. "Kania, I put you up for this because you are a fucking good soldier. My best by far. If I had my way, you would be a fucking Spectre by now. But you need to learn to keep your fucking mouth shut, because the command chain doesn't end at me. Understood?"

Kania looked her superior dead in the eyes. "Yes, Ma'am."

"Cut the bullshit, Kania," Zarius snapped. She stalked away, her boots snapping on the floor. "Come on. Let's find somewhere to keep you out of trouble for the rest of the day. Preferably a place with alcohol."

Kania followed, rolling her icy blue eyes.

The cocktail bar nestled in the upper reaches of Palaven's urban district managed to be two things that Kania hated. Firstly, it was lively. The buzz of talk and raucous laughter struck her ears like a the chatter of a machinegun. Secondly, it was crowded. Military uniforms and medals flashed from every corner, with the occasional civilian here and there. Kania recognised a few of them. Some were veterans of Taetrus. These men and women all had the same hard eyes as Kania. When they laughed, it was mostly just for show.

"So," Zarius settled down in a chair, surveying the cocktail bar. "See anyone you like?"

"Seriously?" Kania sighed, and took a sip of the luminous blue drink Zarius had pushed into her hand, and immediately spat it out. It tasted like soap mixed with sugar. "What the fuck is this?"

"An Elysium Sunset," Zarius sipped at her own cocktail, forcing her face into an expression of enjoyment. "Don't you like it?"

"No." Kania cocked her head at the drink, viewing it critically. "It's blue."

"Yes, Kania. Yes it is."

"Sunsets aren't blue."

"I'm not following."

"It's called 'Elysium Sunset.' It's supposed to be a sunset," Kania said sharply, glancing up at the colonel, "Why is it blue? Is Elysium's sun blue?"

"I don't know," Zarius sighed in exasperation. "Go ask the bartender."

Kania looked at the drink, then at Zarius, then at the bartender. She got to her feet and marched over to the bar.

"That was supposed to be sarcasm!" Zarius called after her. Then she shrugged, and drained Kania's cocktail in one long gulp. How much trouble could she possibly get into, anyway?

Kania shoved her way through the crowd at the bar, ignoring the shouts of anger as she did so. The bartender was on the opposite side of the bar from her. He crossed over to her side, leaning over to a turian on Kania's right. She waited patiently while the turian gave his order. The bartender nodded, then began to toss various liquids of different colours into a mixing cup. He emptied the garish pink result into a glass and passed it to the turian.

"Excuse me!" Kania said politely, but the bartender ignored her, instead turning to the turian on her left. His uniform denoted him as a Major in the 43rd Marine Division. Blue marks on his face revealed him as a native of Palaven.

"I'll have a White Illian," the turian said, then turned to Kania. "What did you want?"

"I want to know why an Elysium Sunset is blue."

"No," the turian laughed. "What did you want to drink? I'll get it for you."

"I didn't want anything to drink," Kania frowned. Was this flirting? "I wanted to ask why a drink that calls itself a sunset is blue. Sunsets aren't blue. It doesn't make sense."

"Two White Illians," the turian said to the bartender, handing over his credit chit.

"I didn't want a drink," Kania said curtly. "I wanted to find out why an Elysium Sunset is blue."

"At least try it."

"Why?" Kania glowered at the turian. He seemed to be utterly bemused by her rejection. This, Kania surmised, must be why all her female friends complained about flirting. It was generally unwanted, and largely dull. "I didn't ask for it."

"Consider it compensation," the turian shrugged, and handed her the drink, which was the colour of off-milk. At least, Kania thought, it was a shade of white. "For not finding out the answer."

"Hey, if you're done," called someone behind her, "Then get out of the way."

"I'm not done," Kania snapped at him. "I'm trying to find out why an Elysium Sunset is blue. It's a sunset. Sunsets aren't blue!"

"Yeah, yeah. Out of the way," the turian shoved her aside. Kania was shunted into the turian with the blue facial markings, splashing both White Illians down Kania's dress uniform.

"Excuse me," Kania said, incredulously, indicating the stains settling on her dark grey uniform to the turian.

"Should have gotten out of the way," he shrugged. "Hardly my fault."

"No," Kania's icy blue eyes flared. "Completely your fault. Literally, all of this was your fault."

"Yeah, go cry about it to someone else."

Fuming, Kania hefted the glass in her hand and smashed it across the offending turian's head. With a groan, he slid to the floor and stayed there, unmoving. There were shouts of alarm, and a moment later, Kania felt a vice-like grip close around her arm. She looked up into the mirrored visor of a turian military police officer. Kania looked around for Zarius, but the colonel was passionately kissing a Flight Lieutenant in the corner.

"Please come with us, Ma'am." The policeman said to her, his voice calm.

"Hey, I didn't do anything wrong!" Kania said, shocked that she was even being asked to leave. She pointed at the turian on the floor. "It was all his fault."

"She's right," said the turian beside her, whose dark green dress uniform was also spattered and stained with white. "He assaulted the captain. She acted in self-defence."

"She pushed in front first," someone yelled from behind Kania.

"Fuck off!" She shouted back, looking around for whoever had called out. "I will pull rank on you, motherfucker!"

"Ma'am, have you been drinking?"

"No," Kania said angrily. "I've been trying to find out why an Elysium Sunset is blue. Sunsets aren't blue!"

"Okay, we're going to have to take you in," the military policeman tugged on her arm. "Please don't make us resort to force, Ma'am. Paperwork, you understand."

With that, she was jerked away, spitting and cursing at the policemen. She was tossed rather unceremoniously into a small cell with a bunk on one side, and a toilet on the other. The thin tube in the ceiling was barely enough to illuminate the room. Several hours later, the door to her cell opened. Kania raised a hand to shield her eyes. The light in the corridor was almost blinding. A turian military police officer walked in, escorted by two guards. He was skimming through a datapad, muttering to himself. One of the guards stood in the door, his assault rifle held at attention across his chest. The second guard stood opposite the first, at the end of Kania's dark, four-metre-by-four-metre cell.

"Captain Kania Felix." The officer looked up from the datapad. "You have been charged with drunk and disorderly. You'll be in overnight, and let off with a caution."

"But I'm not drunk," Kania frowned. "You checked my blood charts, right?"

"We did." The officer returned to his datapad.

"And did I have alcohol in my system?" Kania stood up. The guards tensed. The mirrored visor of the guard next to Kania pivoted to face her.

"Ma'am, please sit down," the guard said calmly.

Kania glared at the officer. "Did I have alcohol in my system?"

"No," the officer admitted.

"So how the fuck can I be drunk and disorderly without being drunk?" Kania snapped at him. "That's just plain nonsensical!"

"Ma'am, please sit down," the guard repeated.

"No!" Kania shouted at the guard. "I'm being charged with something that I cannot be charged with! It's like if someone charged you with being intelligent!"

Kania had been punched many times in her life. Mostly in training; occasionally in bars; and once in the park. The one thing they all had in common was her big stupid mouth. And like all the previous times, the thing getting punched was her big stupid mouth. Kania saw stars as she was sent flying back onto her bed. Her head cracked painfully against the wall. A high-pitched ringing in her ears drowned out all other sound. Kania shook her head to try and clear the ringing. Slowly, it dissipated. She raised her head off the bed and looked around. The officer was shouting. The guard was shouting. The other guard was shouting.

And all of a sudden, they weren't. Silence.

Kania was hauled off the bed and into a standing position. Primarch Rexus Fedorian stood in the door, flanked by a pair of thickly-armoured turians. The symbol of the Andromeda Initiative was stamped on their chests. Kania tried to stand to attention, but her head was still spinning. She stumbled over to the toilet and vomited. Fedorian was waiting patiently, inspecting the cell with a curious expression on his face. He glanced at the officer and the guard, who stood still as posts.

"I'd like a moment alone with Captain Felix."

"Sir!"

The pair saluted and marched from the cell. Kania looked up from the toilet, eyes streaming.

"Didn't realise I'd be getting my rejection letter in person," she wiped her mouth with the sleeve of her already-stained, formerly-pristine dress uniform, and spat a last globule of vomit and spittle into the toilet. "You really shouldn't have, Sir."

"The Primacy discussed your application," Fedorian said in his calm, quiet voice. "The Field Marshall, Fleet Admiral, and Air Marshall were all against your addition to the programme."

Kania bit down on her lip to prevent a snide comment about the Primarch's powers of observation escaping her mouth. She was already in the shit, no need to make it worse.

"However," Fedorian nodded to the turian on his right. "Major Constans Vespasian came to the Primacy with a candidate that he asked us to consider."

The turian removed his helmet, revealing blue facial markings. Kania couldn't hold her tongue.

"Oh you've got to be fucking kidding me." Then she remembered who she was speaking to, and quickly added, "Sir."

"Major Vespasian claims that – based on your file – you appeared to be perfect for the Andromeda Initiative," Fedorian said, ignoring the profanity. "While the rest of the Primacy stressed their objections - for the second time, he subsequently threatened to abandon his position as Pathfinder if you weren't added to the programme."

"Oh did he now?" Kania narrowed her eyes.

"You were a valedictorian at Brutus," Constans shrugged nonchalantly. "That immediately makes you a prime candidate. And I was on Taetrus. The hastatim pulled our asses out of the fire on that one."

"Yeah, we weren't just there to shoot small children," Kania muttered. "Contrary to popular belief, we're pretty fucking good at killing most things. Sir."

"I know," Constans nodded. "That's why I requested you, and fought your corner."

"Welcome to the Andromeda Initiative, Captain Felix," Primarch Fedorian saluted her. "I trust you won't disappoint us."


	2. Chapter 2

"The following candidates are to remain behind: Felix; Trajan; Verus; Commodus; Pertinax; Geta. The rest of you will be returned to your units."

The small crowd of turians leaked away, some grumbling disapprovingly. Most were too exhausted to say anything. It was 2045. It had been four days since any of them slept. For the past four weeks, the candidates approved by the various Primacies in the turian Hierarchy had been pushed to their absolute limits. Barely a day had gone by without one of the instructors shooting live rounds at them to test their reflexes and tactical acumen. Six turians were left behind, standing like pillars of rock in the wake of a stream. All of them were close to dropping to the floor and sleeping then and there. Constans Vespasian jumped down off the Nomad and approached the remaining turians. Though he had gone through the selection process alongside the recruits, he showed no signs of weariness. The six turians stood together, Kania slightly apart and in front.

"Welcome to the Pathfinder team," Vespasian saluted the six exhausted turians. Kania returned it, but struck herself in the face with a clumsy hand. Her hand-eye coordination had suffered greatly with the sleep deprivation. "Each of you have been chosen for your courage, selflessness, intelligence, and commitment to duty."

Kania couldn't suppress a snort. Nothing in the selection process was remotely based around any of those qualities. It was a brutal series of tests designed to weed out the inferior candidates, and leave only the best and brightest. Vespasian shot her an irritated glance, and Kania bit down on her tongue to stop it jeopardising the position she'd worked so hard to secure. One stupid comment and she'd be back to the Armiger Legion, she thought bitterly. And they'd probably knock her down a rank just for her failure to boot.

"Over the next few days, you'll become familiar with each other, and with the technology designed specifically for the Andromeda Initiative," Vespasian carried on. "Each of you has a role to play. Nothing but the best is expected from you. If you are slack in your work, you will know about it. If you are found wanting, you _will_ be returned to your unit."

"Does that include you, Sir?" Kania snapped at him, then clamped her mouth shut before another word could slip out.

There was a long pause, during which Kania fervently reminded herself that she didn't like this galaxy, and wanted to get away from it as soon as fucking possible. Mouth shut, eyes forward, she thought. Stop being smart, and be a good subordinate for once. Out of the corner of her eye, Kania could see the shocked expressions on the turians beside her.

"Yes, Captain Felix," Vespasian said slowly. He had clearly expected not to be interrupted in his speech. "That also applies to me… Now, where was I?"

"You were returning us to our units, Sir," piped up Hosidius Geta from the back. There was a chorus of laughter. Kania didn't join in.

"Just the Captain, I think," chuckled Marcus Pertinax. He stopped laughing when he saw the look on Kania's face, telling him in no uncertain terms that he would receive a thorough beating if he kept going.

"Ah yes," Vespasian nodded. "We are the tip of the spear. We represent the turian people in this endeavour. Do not fail them. Dismissed." Kania turned to leave, but Vespasian suddenly called, "Captain Felix, a word, please."

Kania sighed, preparing for the inevitable chewing out that usually followed one of her outbursts. As was the case with almost everything bad that happened to her, Kania's big stupid mouth had found itself biting off more than it could chew. Vespasian was observing the five exhausted, yet clearly excited turians leaving the hanger, a faint smile on his face.

"They'll make an excellent Pathfinder team," he said quietly. "Kania – may I call you Kania?"

Kania frowned. Was she supposed to object to someone using her name? She shrugged. "Sure."

"Kania, you're an excellent soldier. But more than that, you're a leader," Vespasian smiled at her. Kania didn't smile back. She knew these things already. "The others don't just respect your rank. They respect you."

"That's because they know I'll beat the shit out of them if they don't."

Vespasian burst out laughing. Kania was taken aback. She hadn't meant it as a joke. "That's what I like about you, Kania. You say what you think."

This was perhaps the most surprising thing Kania had heard in her life. People usually hated her big stupid mouth, and almost everything that came out of it. More often than not, it got Kania into more trouble than she could handle, and her big stupid mouth ended up getting a split lip.

"You'd be the first," Kania muttered irritably. "Did you actually want something, or did you just want to compliment me?"

Vespasian gave her a curious look. Kania got the impression that he was trying not to laugh at her. "I want you to be my XO."

Kania cocked her head to one side, her eyes narrowed. "Are you fucking with me?"

"No." Vepasian laid a hand on her shoulder. Kania flinched at the contact, and resisted the urge to slap it away. "You'll run the crew to my standards, you'll –"

"I know what an XO is." She shifted her body, and Vespasian's hand slid off her shoulder. "Fine. I'll do it."

"I was planning on taking the team out to dinner," Vespasian said. There was a strange warmth to his tone that made Kania grimace, and want to vomit profusely all over his sparkling-clean boots. "It's not required of course, just -"

"I have people to see before we leave," Kania interrupted him, before he could say another word. Her jaw locked, and her icy eyes drifted past Vespasian. The muscles in her neck were as tight as steel wires. "Is that everything, Sir?"

Vespasian shrugged, though he looked somewhat put out. "Dismissed, Captain."

Kania stalked out of the hanger, her footsteps echoing around the empty rafters high above her.

* * *

"How long will you be gone?"

"I don't know. A long time."

"Will you be able to visit?"

"I don't know. Probably not."

"Kania?"

"Yes?"

"Where am I?"

"You're in a hospital."

"Why am I in…"

Kania saw the fear in her mother's eyes. Her hands clenched a tattered blue blanket. She had given it to Kania for her fifth birthday. Golden-orange rays of light were streaming into the room from the dying sun, painting the walls the colour of molten iron. The room itself reminded Kania of the jail cell she had been thrown into after the bar fight. One bed, one desk, one chair, one bathroom, one occupant waiting out their time. All that was needed now was a troop of armed guards. She bit back the venomous comments that sat in her throat, and forced herself to make polite conversation. The doctors had told her it would help her mother, but looking at the frail old turian, Kania couldn't see the point.

"Has Corvo been to see you?" Kania asked, with no small amount of effort.

Her mother's eyes slid in and out of focus. "Corvo? Who's that?"

"Your son." Kania reminded her patiently. "He said he would be on leave for the next few months."

"Oh, of course," Kania's mother started, as though she had been about to fall asleep. Kania could see the cogs in her mother's brain working furiously to work out what had just happened. "He was here yesterday. He's on leave for the next few months."

"I know," Kania nodded. "He told me. He just got back from joint-operations with the asari."

"Asari." Her mother snorted. "Bunch of sluts."

"Mother!" Kania bristled. "You can't say things like that!"

But her mother wasn't paying attention. She was stroking the blanket in her hands lovingly. "Corvo was here yesterday. Such a good boy."

Kania sighed, rubbing her tired eyes. "How was he?"

Her mother looked at her with unseeing eyes. "How was who?"

"Corvo," Kania struggled to keep the frustration out of her voice. "You said he was here yesterday."

"Corvo?" Her mother clenched the blanket tightly. "Who's that?"

"Your son, mother," Kania said through gritted teeth. Her patience was fraying. "He was here yesterday."

"I don't have a son," Kania's mother looked around wildly. Her hands clenched the blanket madly, tearing it slightly. "Where am I? Who are you?"

"Mother, calm down." Kania placed a reassuring hand on her mother's shoulder, but the old woman slapped it away angrily.

"Don't you touch me, whoever you are!" She spat at Kania.

"It's me!" Kania shouted at her. "It's your daughter!"

"I don't have a daughter!" Her mother screamed back at her. "Get away from me, you bitch!"

The door burst open, and a salarian in a white coat ran in, followed by several nurses in matching pale blue uniforms. The nurses gently led Kania's mother over to the bed, speaking soothingly in her ear as she kicked and flailed and spat at them. From somewhere, a syringe was produced, and pushed into a catheter on the back of the old turian's hand. Almost immediately, Kania's mother went limp. The nurses slipped her under the covers while the doctor made a note in the chart. Kania saw the old blue blanket lying on the floor. In the commotion, it had torn almost completely in two. Only a few threads connected the two pieces of fabric together.

"I didn't realise she was this bad," Kania said, as much to herself as to the doctor. She was shocked by how quickly her mother had deteriorated in the brief visit. But she was shaken to the core by her mother's last words. It wasn't the first time she'd said that to her. But at least, Kania thought bitterly, it would be the last.

"We do advise visiting earlier in the day," the doctor said reprovingly. His name tag read: Benn Wix. "Corpalis Syndrome has a tendency to worsen towards the evening. We call it sundowning. We don't really know why it happens. Perhaps you could visit around lunch?"

"No." Kania shook her head. "I barely had the time to visit today."

"It will do her a great deal of good," the doctor pressed. "Mental stimulation has the potential to slow down the advance of the disease.

"It won't stop it though," Kania snapped at him. "Will it?"

She snatched up the blanket, but her action was too rough for the old material. The remaining threads ripped, and the fabric fell lightly to the ground. Kania was left with a short piece of around half a metre square. She stared at it, then stuffed it into a pocket.

"Captain Felix, I –"

"Doctor Wix," Kania interrupted him curtly. "I've been on a few battlefields in my time, and more than my share of injuries. I know a lost cause when I see one. I came as a courtesy. I'm… leaving. For a long time."

"I see." Doctor Wix swept the turian with his huge, bulging eyes. "I understand it's her birthday in two days. Will you be with us then?"

"No."

Kania almost ran out of the hospital room, leaving the remains of the faded blue blanket on the floor. She knew it wouldn't be a happy visit, but she had felt compelled to go. When she left the hospital, she summoned a skycar and set a course for the barracks where the Pathfinder team was being housed while they underwent their final briefings and training. Kania flipped on the autopilot and buried her face in her hands. It had been two years, four months, and sixteen days since her mother had been diagnosed with Corpalis Syndrome. Kania had counted every one of them.

Two years, four months, and sixteen days ago, her mother died.

"Destination reached," the skycar chimed.

A dozen guards stood stoically at a checkpoint guarding the barrack entrance. High walls patrolled by more guards and topped with razor wire shielded the compound from the empty streets around it. The blades of the wire glinted in the faint moonlight. Searchlights blazed in the darkness, sweeping the dark streets with their baleful gaze. Kania stepped out, and immediately a guard approached her. The other guards at the checkpoint immediately stiffened.

"ID please."

Kania punched in a command to her omnitool, and an ID pass flickered into life above her arm, framed in orange light. The guard nodded and waved her through the checkpoint. The mirrored visors tilted in her direction. The Pathfinder team had all been assigned to one room, supposedly to help them bond. It was the same tactic used across the turian military. Three bunk beds dominated the cramped room, with two lockers beside them for storage. The rest of the room was largely bare. Right now, the room was empty. Kania sighed with relief and tumbled into her bunk. She lay there, enjoying the silence, fighting off the exhaustion of the selection process. Hours ticked by.

Two years, four months, and seventeen days ago, her mother died.

She tapped her omnitool. "Call Corvo Felix."

"Connecting!" It exclaimed.

"Kania?" Her brother's voice was laced with sleep. "Shit. Do you know what time it is?"

"Corvo, I'll be off the grid for a while."

"You're getting redeployed?" Corvo yawned loudly. "I thought you were on leave?"

"Something's come up. Something important," Kania said evasively. "Can I count on you to take care of… of her?"

"She has a name, Kania!" Corvo replied angrily. "And I've _been_ taking care of her for the last two years! Every fucking chance I've had to go and see her. I've passed on promotions so that I keep getting rotated back to Palaven - so I can see her. And where are you in all of this? When was the last time you went and saw her?"

Except for today, Kania thought. Two years, four months, and seventeen days ago.

Corvo had always been her mother's favourite child. Kania might have been decorated with the highest honours by several Colonial Primacies, but it was Corvo that had been the apple of their mother's eye. Kania had tried to keep in contact, but that had ended in argument after argument. Eventually, it was simply easier to stop speaking to her parents. The last time they'd all been together, Kania had been looking on, unseen by the rest of her family, as her father's coffin was lowered into his grave. Her mother had clung tightly to Corvo, tears spilling from her eyes. After everyone else had left, Kania said her own farewell. Alone. As she always was.

"I'm sorry, Kania. It's... difficult. What with father dying and all. I'm a little overwhelmed by all this." A sigh crackled through her omnitool's speaker. "Kania? Kania, are you there?"

"I'm here, Corvo." She replied quietly.

"You can't keep running away from this. You know that, right?"

Kania choked down the angry retort that was building in her throat.

She terminated the connection.


	3. Chapter 3

"Why did I agree to this?"

"Because they threatened to pull you from the programme if you didn't."

"Because it's _so_ essential to promote ourselves."

"Kania..."

"What?"

"You're supposed to be the Pathfinder XO. Start acting like it."

"Hmm."

Cameras flashed and clicked. Glaring red lights sat atop camera lenses, reminding Kania uncomfortably of the sniper rifles that had peeked out of windows on Taetrus. Shouts and chatter. Screams and machine guns.

Flash.

Click.

Light travels at 299,792,458 metres per second.

Sound travels at 343 metres per second.

A bullet fired from a Black Widow sniper rifle travels at 853 metres per second.

You would see the muzzle flash almost immediately. At a range of 200 metres, the bullet would hit you 0.237248 seconds after it was fired. It would take the sound from the shot 0.58309 seconds to travel the same distance.

You didn't even hear the bullet until it hit you.

Flash.

Click.

Kania's knuckles turned white. Her jaw locked.

Flash.

Click.

Pain began to creep up her thigh.

Flash.

Click.

Her breathing grew laboured.

Flash.

Click.

"Are you okay?"

Kania looked up. The young female turian on her right was leaning towards her, examining her critically. The deep purple tattoos across her brow told Kania she was from Taetrus. Lucia Trajan, Kania remembered. Quiet, shy, and, most importantly, a biotic.

"I'm fine." Kania said, slightly more aggressively than she had intended.

"No you're not," Lucia's hand closed around her wrist. Kania almost immediately jerked her hand away. "Your pulse is racing. Have some water. It'll calm you down. It's the best I can do without meds. And try to ignore the cameras."

"Ignore them?" Kania growled. "They're right in my fucking face."

Lucia shrugged apologetically and turned away, hanging her head in shame, as though she was a dog that had received a vicious kick from its master. The Pathfinder team was sat in a long line behind a table with Vespasian in the middle. An entire host of intergalactic media personnel were crammed into the space in front of them. The interview host, an irritating, spritely female human with shoulder-length black hair raised a microphone to her mouth, attempted to call for silence, then realised that the microphone was turned off.

"Hello?" She said into the microphone. Spirits, thought Kania, even her voice was irritating. "Can everyone hear me."

There was a scattering of replies in the affirmative. The room fell silent.

Flash.

Click.

"Okay!" The human said, in a tone that was so enthusiastic and sugary that Kania feared developing diabetes through just listening to it. "My name is Jessie Thomson, I do the PR for the Andromeda Initiative. Today we've got the all-turian Pathfinder team for the Prospero – the sister ship of the Alliance's Tempest. Let's go down the line and have everyone introduce themselves."

A stony-faced turian moved towards the microphone, as if a pillar of rock had come to life. His face was so heavily scarred that it was impossible to see the tattoos denoting his colony of origin. "Sergeant Proximo Commodus. 99th Assault Brigade."

His voice sounded like crunching gravel.

"And what's your role in the Pathfinder team, Proximo?"

"Mostly, I just shoot people."

There was a wave of laughter amongst the gathered reporters. Jessie Thomson shot a smile so white, Kania averted her eyes.

"Well, I guess some are easier to sum up than others! Next!"

Jessie Thomson walked down the line, her high heels clacking on the floor. She was now in line with Lucia. Kania noticed that the young turian was taking several deep breaths. When she spoke, it was almost a whisper. The microphone didn't even pick up her voice. Several of the reporters began to murmur, checking if anyone else had heard Lucia speak.

"Can we have that again?" Jessie Thomson grinned. "Don't be shy."

"Cabalite Lucia Trajan," she said very quickly, and very quietly. "1st Biotic Support Division."

"Can you explain what a Cabalite is, for the ladies and gentlemen here."

"I'm a biotic. We're deemed too dangerous to the population to be left alone, so…" Kania saw the young turian's jaw clench. She guessed that her pulse was racing. Lucia shook her head, as if she were trying to toss out an idea. She took a deep breath, then said, very quickly, "We provide biotic support to frontline troops. I'm also the field medical officer for the Pathfinder team."

Lucia sat back heavily in her chair, and snatched up her glass of water, draining it in one long gulp.

"Okay!" Jessie Thomson said, still grinning in spite of Lucia's short outburst. "Okay, how about you!"

Kania realised the irritating human was now talking to her. She glared back insolently, hiding none of her unbridled hatred.

"I don't see why I have to do this," Kania snapped. "My name and rank is right in front of me. Unless there are some blind reporters here. Are there blind reporters here?"

She didn't need the look from Vespasian to tell her that she had fucked up. Nor did she need Jessie Thomson's faltering smile, and subsequent glower. Remember, she chided herself, you actually _want_ to be on this team. Stop trying to get yourself kicked off it. The reporters, however, seemed to find her response amusing. Kania didn't understand. She was completely serious – why were they laughing?

"Kania," Vespasian said through gritted teeth. "Play nice."

"For the benefit of those not gifted with sight," Jessie Thomson said, barely missing a beat. Her eyes were blazing with fury. "Could you give us your name, rank, and role in the Pathfinder team?"

"Captain Kania Felix. 26th Armiger Legion," Kania recited, feeling Vespasian glaring at her. "Pathfinder XO."

"So you're the second-in-command?"

"Yes."

"That's a lot of responsibility."

"Yes."

"Let's move on," Jessie Thomson continued to shoot daggers at Kania, but her smile, for once, looked genuine. "I don't think our Pathfinder really needs any introduction, but please, go ahead."

"Major Constans Vespasian." His voice was calm, and for good reason. Vespasian had been a hero of the Taetrus campaign, and several others before that. His image had been plastered across the turian military media, and he had been interviewed several dozen times. "43rd Marine Division. I'll be the Pathfinder commanding the Prospero."

"Excellent. We'll return to you with a few questions about your role as Pathfinder later."

"Lieutenant Alexia Verus, PhD." The female turian on Vespasian's left said, without waiting to be introduced. The white tattoos around her slate-grey eyes moved rhythmically with her jaw as she chewed on a piece of gum. "54th Light Infantry Regiment."

"And what do you…"

"I'm the team sharpshooter and science officer. I received my doctorate from the Ilio T'Sanza University on Thessia."

"Impress -."

"I know."

"Okay, moving on," Jessie Thomson's smile was beginning to look more like a grimace. "To our first non-military team member. Detective, you were featured recently in the Citadel Weekly e-magazine!"

"Ah yes," a turian with blue tattoos covering almost the entirety of his face leaned back on his chair, the front legs lifting off the ground as he did so. "Ladies – and gentlemen – if you're looking for a good time, please contact the number in the Personals section."

The reporters laughed. Several of the women flushed. As did, Kania noticed, several of the men. Jessie Thomson smiled, and batted her eyelashes at the detective. "For those who aren't aware of you, but would maybe like to find that advertisement, could you introduce yourself?"

"Detective Hosidius Geta, C-Sec E-Crimes Division. Youngest detective in C-Sec history. Winner of Citadel Weekly's Sexiest Male On the Citadel two years running. Occasional model for Fornax, and star of Dirty Dextro Boys 3," the turian winked, still balancing lazily on the back legs of his chair. Several more of the journalists flushed. "I'll be the team's technical expert. If something isn't shooting its load properly, send it my way."

"Which brings us," Jessie Thomson said promptly, over the chorus of giggles. Kania saw the PR officer's cheeks beginning to redden. "To our last team member."

"Lieutenant Marcus Pertinax," said the turian on the end of the line. The yellow tattoos on his face were marred by hideous scars down one side of his face. The kind that only burns leave behind. However, the grim facade was almost immediately broken by a wide, warm smile. "C-Sec Special Response Unit. I'll be handling the team's heavy weapons."

"All-round turian badass," said Hosidius Geta in an overly dramatic voice. "The sole dispenser of justice in a galaxy gone wild! He's a man with a big gun, and he knows how to use it! _In cinemas soon_!"

"Shut up, kid," growled Pertinax, playfully smacking the back of Geta's head. The room was echoing with the sound of laughter.

Flash.

Click.

"Settle down, everyone!" Jessie Thomson called over the laughter. "Settle down. Let's go to our first question. This is for everyone. The ships of the Andromeda Initiative are expected to take six hundred years to reach their destination. How have your family and friends reacted to your selection, in light of this?"

"My family died on Taetrus," Proximo said, in his gravelly voice. Kania thought she heard a faint choking noise, as though stones were being thrown against a wall. "Unfortunately."

"So I guess they're not too fussed?" Geta called from down the line. The reporters chuckled and flushed.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Sergeant Commodus," Jessie Thomson said, with a faint trace of sadness in her voice.

"Cabalites aren't permitted to contact their families," Lucia shrugged. "Even if I wanted to, I couldn't. Most of my friends are happy with my decision."

"Most?"

"Some of them are sad, I guess."

"I see. Captain Felix?"

Vespasian nudged her. Be nice, she thought. Don't say anything stupid.

"My friends support my professional decisions, regardless of their personal feelings."

See, she told herself. You can do this interview shit.

"But Captain Felix, this must be very personal…"

"Fortunately," Kania said through gritted teeth. "My friends haven't shared those opinions with me."

Correction, Kania berated herself, you can't keep your fucking mouth shut, and it's going to get you thrown out of the programme.

"And what about your family?"

Kania swallowed hard. Make something up, she thought. Anything. Literally, anything but the truth. "They don't know."

That was true, idiot, Kania berated herself. Should have gone for the dead family thing. Shame that one got taken early in.

"You haven't told your family?"

"No."

"Why is that?"

"The entire team has been very busy," Vespasian said quickly. Kania stared at him, shocked that someone intervened on her behalf. "It's been difficult to find the time to inform absolutely everyone in the limited time we've had."

"Does that include yourself, Major?"

Kania breathed a sigh of relief as Jessie Thomson moved on. She looked up at Lucia, who was shaking. Kania gave her a nudge, and the cabalite whipped around.

"What's wrong?" Kania asked, leaning in, and dropping her voice.

"Nothing." Lucia snapped. "Why?"

"Because you look like you're about to murder someone."

Lucia chewed on her lip. "I'll tell you later. Thank you. For asking. Me. About it."

"Thank you, Major," Jessie Thomson flashed him a smile. "That was very enlightening. Lieutenant –"

"My family hates my decision," Alexia said bluntly. "They also hated it when I went to the highest-ranked university in the galaxy for sciences. So I guess it's nothing new."

"Are you hoping to iron out those issues before you –"

"No."

"Why can she say what the fuck she likes, and I can't?" Kania hissed to Vespasian.

"Because you're the Pathfinder XO," Vespasian growled back. "You have to appear dignified."

Kania snorted, and folded her arms.

"Geta, I know there will be many a broken heart when you leave."

"I'm afraid my passion for adventure, the chance to explore new frontiers and horizons, and my undying love for serving my people won out," Geta said melodramatically, hand clutched over his heart. "I also might have a handful of illegitimate children popping up in the next year or so, so it's best to be as far away from them as possible. Avoids arguments and awkward questions. Scorned lovers are dreadfully bothersome to deal with."

"What about your parents?"

"Oh, they don't complain much," Geta shrugged. "They died some five, six years ago. I don't remember when."

"I don't even know if you're telling the truth." Jessie Thomson smiled, and batted her eyelashes again. "What about your friends at C-Sec?"

"Who do you think I had all the illegitimate children with?" Geta chuckled. So did the journalists.

"And how about you, Lieutenant Pertinax? How has your family reacted to your selection for the Prospero?"

"It's a great honour to myself and my family to be a part of this mission," Pertinax said, cracking a smile. Kania frowned, feeling a hint of evasion in his answer.

"Alright, let's move onto some individual questions," Jessie Thomson stood to one side, so she wasn't obscuring the panel. "Major Vespasian, could you explain the role of the Pathfinders in the Andromeda Initiative?"

Kania felt a soft vibration, and looked down at her omnitool. A message popped up. Corvo. Glancing at the room, she saw that everyone was paying rapt attention to Vespasian. She opened the message.

C: What the fuck, Kania? The Pathfinders? You're leaving the fucking galaxy?

With shaking fingers, Kania typed in a reply.

K: I'm sorry, Corvo, I wanted to tell you, but

She stopped, then erased the message. She tried again.

K: The reason I didn't tell you was

Kania erased that message as well. She was starting to get angry. She shouldn't have to explain her choices to Corvo. Not to him, not to anybody.

K: Leave me alone.

She hit the send key, then blocked his extranet mail address, personal number, and social media accounts. Finally, she deleted Corvo's contact details.

"Okay, we're now going to take some questions from the audience, and from those watching our live stream," Jessie Thomson was saying. She looked around at the see of raised hands. "Okay, you."

"Khalisah Bint Sinan al-Jilani, Westerlund News," said a female human close to the back of the room. "I have a question for Major Vespasian."

"Go ahead," Vespasian nodded, smiling pleasantly.

"Major, it was said before that the Prospero will be a sister-ship to the Tempest – which is run by the Alliance. Why then, are there no human members of the Pathfinder team?"

"Should there be?" Kania snapped. Ordinarily, she would remind herself to shut up, but she was still angry at Corvo, and picking on this reporter was the closest thing Kania could get to repeatedly punching her brother in the face.

"Kania," Vespasian muttered. "Leave this to me."

"Shut up," she hissed, then she addressed the now-flustered reporter. "The Tempest and the Prospero were built at the same time, to the same specifications. The crew requirements were left up to the races that owned the ships. In this case, turian Hierarchy."

"But, Captain Felix," Khalisah al-Jilani said slowly, "If the Alliance has contributed in some way to the ship's construction, should they not at least have a spot on the ship?"

"The turians contributed to the construction of the Normandy in 2183," Alexia jumped in, her jaw working furiously on her piece of gum. "You don't see us complaining about the lack of turians on that ship."

Kania heard Vespasian whispering furiously to Alexia.

"Besides," Geta added, finally bringing his chair back down to all four legs. "The ships were only finished in the last few weeks. What with the vastly different operating procedures between the races, it'd be difficult to have a multi-species crew that worked as efficiently as that of a single species. Turians, for example, have far stricter operational procedures than the Alliance. It'd take months, years even, to get accustomed to our way of doing things."

"But species engage in joint operations all the time," al-Jilani persisted. "Major Vespasian's 43rd Marine Division, for example."

"Joint operations take months of training to perfect," Proximo said in his gravelly, monotone voice. "Different command styles, different approaches, different hardware. It can take years before live-fire deployments can take place."

"Let's move on," Jessie Thomson said brightly, before Khalisah al-Jilani could ask another question.

The barracks was tense. Kania lay on her bed by the door, staring at the bunk above it. To her right, she could see Geta's legs swinging gently. Past Geta's boots – by the window, Lucia sat with her knees pulled up to her chest, huddled against the wall. Above the Cabalite, Alexia lay face-down on her bunk. On the wall opposite, Proximo and Pertinax were both apparently asleep. Vespasian had stormed into his quarters immediately after they'd returned, slamming the door behind him. Not long after that, they heard the sound of shattering glass. Nobody had said anything since they had returned from the press briefing.

"Well." Geta broke the silence with a deep sigh. "That could have gone better."

Pertinax sat up groggily. "You don't say, kid."

"I mean," Geta slid down onto the floor. "It wasn't fucking awful, but –"

The door burst open, and Geta fell silent. Vespasian walked in, his face an expression of cold calmness. Kania slid off her bunk, and joined Geta in the centre of the room. Proximo and Pertinax – both rubbing their eyes and yawning – wandered over. Alexia leaped down from her bed, landing cat-like on the floor, and gently pulled a reluctant Lucia out from her corner. The six of them stood in a line, unsure of how Vespasian would react to their performance at the press conference. Up close, Kania could see his jaw was clenched. The muscles in his neck were taut as a hangman's rope.

"Please." Vespasian said, with a surprising degree of calm. "Do go on, Detective Geta. Don't let me interrupt you."

The young detective swallowed nervously. "I didn't mean anything by it, Major."

"Let's get something straight," Vespasian suddenly snapped at them. "If someone addresses a question to _me_ , then let me answer it! If _you_ are answering a question, then keep it brief and to the point! Geta, stop fucking flirting with everyone that has a pair of eyes, and show some fucking decorum!"

"Oh, I don't discriminate on sight. Hanar make surprisingly good lovers."

"Not! The fucking! Time!" Vespasian shouted at him. His eyes sought out his next target. "Alexia. Let people actually ask you their questions before you start fucking answering them!"

"Hey, that's not –" Alexia started, but Vespasian had moved on.

"Lucia, if people want your opinion on biotics in the turian military, _they will ask for it_ ," Vespasian bellowed at the young turian, who was shaking in fear. Tears began to flow down her cheeks. "You are not here to cause a fucking media firestorm about how we treat biotics, understood?"

"Leave her alone!" Kania screamed at Vespasian, taking a step forward and putting herself between Vespasian and the others. "Fucking hell, leave us all alone! We didn't want this! We didn't ask for it. it was all your idea!"

"I'm not even going to start on you, Captain Felix," Vespasian spat. His chest was heaving. "You were an embarrassment to the entire programme. I put my neck out for you, and _this_ is how you repay me?"

"I _owe_ you, do I?" Kania's icy eyes were alight with cold fury. "I got through that fucking selection process on my fucking own, just like everyone else here. Everyone fucking standing here deserves to fucking be here. Sure, we don't always fucking look good in front of a fucking camera, but that's not what we're fucking doing in fucking Andromeda!"

"That's a lot of fucking," Geta blinked in surprise at the outburst. Pertinax smacked him across the head to shut him up.

"You were insubordinate, condescending, and unprofessional," Vespasian growled, acting as if Kania hadn't spoken. "You're all lucky that you're still here!"

"Why?" Kania snapped at him. "Because we fucked up _one_ interview?"

"Yes!" Vespasian bellowed. "Because you made the Initiative look bad. Billions of credits have gone into this, and in a single one-hour interview, you've made a mockery of it."

"Well," Kania's mind churned, trying to think up a clever response. "Fuck you!"

Vespasian glared at them, his eyes cold and filled with contempt. He spun on his heel, and stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind him and shaking dust from the ceiling.

"Prick," Kania muttered.

Geta snorted, then threw back his head and howled with laughter. Soon the entire team was following his example. Alexia was supporting herself on the metal frame of the nearest bed, laughing madly. Pertinax, tears in his eyes, was smacking his hand against his leg as he cackled. Proximo chuckled quietly, his gravelly bass sounding like someone had tossed rocks into a washing machine. Kania even managed a weak smile. Suddenly, a pair of arms embraced her. She looked down into Lucia's glistening face.

"Thank you," the biotic whispered. "You're the first person that's ever stood up for me."

"Group hug for the Captain!" Geta called, crashing into Kania and Lucia. The trio swayed with the impact. Alexia, Proximo, and Pertinax collided with them all at once, and the six of them tumbled to the ground, giggling like school children. Kania looked around at the five turians crowing with laughter. Shy and timid Lucia. Impetuous and haughty Alexia. Flirtatious, witty Geta. Scarred and battered Proximo. And grim-faced, good-humoured Pertinax. Kania checked the time. It was past midnight. Two years, four months, and nineteen days.

For the first time in two years, four months, and nineteen days, Kania felt like she really had a family.


	4. Chapter 4

"Habitats One through Seven are our so-called 'golden worlds' – they'll be our main objectives for exploration. They represent the best opportunity for colonisation. What is it, Alexia?"

"Why are you giving us this talk, and not the Major?"

"He's… indisposed at the moment."

"Fucking that PR girl more like."

"Geta, that's enough."

"I would."

"I thought he just hated us."

"Marcus…"

"It's been three days, and he hasn't said a word to us."

"That's beside the point, Proximo. I'm sure he's busy doing… something."

Kania grimaced. They were all making points that she had been asking herself. They hadn't seen Vespasian since the night of the news conference. Since then, Kania had been rather reluctantly leading the team in their briefings. She tried to push it out of her mind. Vespasian had spent most of his time shut up in his office. Every time Kania had gone to see him about briefings or meetings, he had shouted at her to fuck off. So she stopped bothering to ask him, and just did everything herself.

"Maybe they'll make Kania Pathfinder," Lucia said in her whisper of a voice. "She's basically doing everything anyway."

"Unlikely," Alexia snorted. "Female turians only make up 23% of the officers in the entire military, and most of those are only junior ranks. There are only three women in senior positions across the Hierarchy. I doubt they're about to start changing things now."

"How the fuck did you remember all that?" Kania frowned at Alexia.

"When you get denied promotion for six years running, you start looking for reasons why."

"If you were any more bitter," Geta chuckled, "I'd be calling you Dark Chocolate."

"I'm the best fucking shot in the turian military. I should be at least a captain on that alone."

"I've known a lot of people to make that claim," Kania folded her arms. "Most of them were shit. A blind pyjak could have outshot them."

"Okay then," Alexia snapped, "I'll fucking prove it to you."

Alexia lined up her sniper rifle, took a deep breath, and nodded to Kania. She tapped her earpiece. "Okay, go."

At the far end of the shooting range, Geta flipped a coin, then swiftly darted out of the way. The pale light from the thin tubes along the ceiling flashed brightly on the coin's polished surface as it spun through the air. There was a booming gunshot, and the rifle kicked hard into Alexia's shoulder. Everyone squinted down the range, but they had all lost sight of the coin almost as soon as it had been flipped. Kania was almost certain that Alexia had missed. Geta edged back across the shooting range, peering down at the ground. He suddenly crouched down, and picked something up.

"Did she hit it?" Kania asked him through her earpiece.

Geta didn't reply. He jumped to his feet and jogged back down the shooting range. There was a tense silence as the young turian handed over the coin to Kania. She held up the coin to the light. A perfectly round hole had been bored straight through the middle of the coin.

"Spirits," growled Proximo. "The girl wasn't lying."

"Next time," Alexia said quietly, shouldering the rifle. "Just fucking take my word for it."

"Ah, here you all are."

The six turians spun to face the speaker. Vespasian was leaning against the door frame. The team glared at him, hostility written across their faces. However, they were turians, and they instinctively snapped to attention. At least, five of them did. Kania pointedly folded her arms, staring insolently at Vespasian.

"What the fuck do you want?" Kania snapped, before the sensible part of her brain could stop her saying something completely out of line.

"I came here to apologise," Vespasian said quietly. "I was too hard on you. None of you had been prepared for the interview – I should have done that. That was my mistake."

"No. It wasn't the interview." Kania spat. "It was your fucking attitude afterwards. _We_ were to blame for it. _We_ fucked up. _We_ were an embarrassment to the Initiative."

"And I apologise for that," Vespasian said, holding up a hand to stem any further arguments. The sensible part of Kania's brain finally regained control, and she held her tongue. "Can we clean the slate, and start again?"

Kania glanced at the others. "Can we discuss it?"

"Go right ahead," Vespasian shrugged. "I'll be here, pretending I've gone deaf."

They shuffled into a circle.

"I say fuck him," Alexia said almost immediately. "We don't need him. We'd manage perfectly well on our own."

"I have absolutely no desire to be Pathfinder," Kania shook her head. "I'm happy with things as they are."

"Who said anything about _you_ ," Alexia shot her a glare. " _I_ would be more than happy to do it."

"Captain Felix is next in line though," growled Proximo. "You can't bypass the structure. I'm happy to start again, provided we set some things straight."

"Alexia has a point though," Geta said slowly. "Do we actually _need_ him? He's got a nice ass, but that aside…"

"Stop thinking with your dick for a minute." Pertinax cuffed Geta across the head. "He was chosen for a reason. At least, I think he was."

Everyone now turned to Lucia. The young turian averted her eyes.

"Come with me," Kania murmured, gently pulling the Cabalite away. When they were some twenty metres away from the group, Kania stopped. "What do you think?"

"I don't know," Lucia whispered. Her eyes were rolling in their sockets, frantically looking anywhere but at Kania. "I… I don't know!"

"It's a simple choice, Lucia," Kania pressed. "Do you want to forgive him?"

"I don't… I… I don't…" Lucia was hyperventilating. "I don't know!"

"Lucia, I need you to focus," Kania snapped her fingers in front of the Cabalite's face. "What do you think?"

"Stop it!" Lucia screamed. Her head twitched to one side. Kania grabbed her by the shoulder, but Lucia raised a hand wreathed in blue flame and shouted, "Leave me alone!"

Kania felt something like a sledgehammer strike her in the chest, and she was suddenly thrown backwards. She tumbled through the air, her head coming within inches of the ceiling. She soared over the four astonished turians still huddled together. The concrete floor began to loom up. Vespasian ran out from beside the doorway, and Kania collided painfully with him. They slid across the floor with a screech of armour on concrete. Moments later, a strong pair of hands pulled her from the floor. Her head was ringing. She looked up into the scarred visage of Proximo.

"Everything in one piece?" He asked, his eyes searching for any obvious injuries.

"I'm fine," Kania brushed him off. "Where is she?"

"The little freak?" The old soldier shrugged. "Ran off. Marcus and Alexia went after her."

"What did you call her?" Kania said, very quietly.

"Well, she's…" Proximo shrugged. Kania felt her hands curling into fists. "She's a Cabalite. They're not normal – always up to shady shit, you know. It was only a matter of time before she –"

He didn't get another word out. Kania punched the soldier across the face with enough force to send him tumbling to the ground and add a split lip to the multitude of scars on his face. She followed it up with a kick to his face. Proximo spat out blood, and eyed her balefully. Kania kicked him in the gut, and Proximo crumpled around her boot, coughing out more blood. She went to kick him again, but Geta grabbed her by the shoulder. She wrenched her arm out of his grip, and shoved him away, then turned back to Proximo, bent on beating the shit out of him in a variety of colours.

"Kania," Vespasian called from the floor. "That's enough."

"You fucking heard him!" She shouted at the Major, pointing at Proximo's prone body. "You heard what he said about Lucia!"

"I know what he said," Vespasian said firmly. "And this isn't the way to deal with it."

"How then?" Kania snorted. "A caution? A slap on the wrist? Give me a fucking break. I've served with the Cabals, and any of them are worth fucking ten of this piece of shit. I want him fucking gone, Vespasian."

"I'm commanding this unit, not you," Vespasian growled. "And _I_ will be the one to discipline any breaches."

"Fine then," Kania threw up her hands in exasperation. "You fucking deal with him."

She spat on Proximo as she stepped over him, her fists still clenched. She tapped her earpiece, and linked up with Pertinax and Alexia. "Have you found Lucia?"

"Sort of," Pertinax replied hesitantly. "She's barricaded herself in a bathroom."

"Can't you just break the door down?" Kania frowned.

"She's holding it shut with her biotics," Alexia explained. "Second floor. East wing. Shit, what the fuck is this..."

"Alexia?" Kania called, but the line was dead.

Kania took the stairs three at a time, shoved open a door next to the bathroom, and was met with a line of shining visors. Next to each visor was an equally well-polished rifle, currently pointed straight at Kania. Behind the firing line, Alexia was shouting incoherently at an officer. Pertinax was crouching next to the door, speaking softly through the crack by the hinges.

"What the fuck is going on here?" Kania shouted. Several of the rifles twitched. She sized up the officer behind the line – who had stopped arguing with Alexia and was instead goggling at this new, very loud arrival – realised he was only a lieutenant, and decided that now would be an excellent time to pull rank. "Lieutenant, if you don't get these fucking men out of here right fucking now, I will write you up for insubordination and have you sitting behind a fucking desk for the remainder of your fucking rapidly shortening career!"

"Captain, there's a rogue biotic in there," the officer said shakily, snapping into a salute. "We are containing the situation – as per regulations."

"Fuck the regulations!" Kania screamed at him. The lieutenant flinched. "Move your men out of here now! Fucking _now_ , soldier!"

"But Captain!"

"No fucking buts! We have the situation contained!"

"But –"

"By the fucking _spirits_ ," Kania stalked forwards. Several soldiers glanced nervously at their comrades. "I will personally throw you off the fucking roof if you don't get moving!"

"B-"

"If you say 'but' one more time, I will rip out your tongue and choke you to death with it!"

"Fine!" The lieutenant snapped at her. "Anything she does will be on your head though, Ma'am."

"Didn't you hear the Captain?" Alexia growled. "Fuck off!"

The officer nodded jerkily, and with practiced precision, the firing line snapped to attention, then smartly marched away as though nothing more interesting than a tumbleweed had passed them by. Kania rubbed her eyes and held up a hand, forestalling anyone talking to her while she let the rage and anger leak away. Having served in the hastatim, and being catcalled as an indiscriminate death-bringer and child-killer, Kania understood – to some degree – the kind of discrimination that accompanied being a biotic in turian society. As soon as their biotic powers were exposed, turians were plucked from their families and tossed into the Cabal system. Kania understood the reasoning.

Discarding the sentimental aspect, these were valuable assets to the turian Hierarchy. The Cabals trained the children and adolescents not only how to use their powers, but also how to control them. Biotics were dangerous at the best of times, and left untrained, they could wreak havoc on society. The fear of such a situation occurring led to a general distrust of the Cabals. Most grunts simply muttered about them behind their backs; but some took more extreme actions. Kania recalled, with a shudder, the bloodbath that her hastatim unit had uncovered on Taetrus at the local Cabal school. Under the cover of the separatist movement, some turians had broken into the school and executed everyone there.

"Lucia," Kania said, approaching the door to the bathroom. "Lucia, it's me. Can we talk?"

Pertinax pressed his ear to the gap, then motioned for Kania to come closer. She crouched by the crack, and heard magnified, wracking sobs echoing in the tiled bathroom. Kania sighed. She had well and truly fucked up this time.

"You two can go," Kania said to Alexia and Pertinax. "I can handle it from here."

"Like the last time?" Alexia snapped at her. "What the fuck did you say to her?"

"I'm sure they'll be fine," Pertinax said, with a nod to Kania. "If she wants to clean up her mess, she's entitled to do so."

Alexia spat on the floor by Kania's feet, and stalked away.

"Don't mind her," Pertinax said, pushing himself to his feet. "She'll calm down soon enough."

"Has Lucia said anything?"

"No. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't talk to her."

"Don't I fucking know it," Kania muttered.

Pertinax gripped her arm tightly. "Be gentle."

Kania nodded curtly, and Pertinax released her arm and pushed open the door to the stairwell. With a sigh, Kania sat down by the door and leaned her back against the frame of the door.

"Lucia, I'd like to talk to you," Kania said into the gap. "Take as long as you like. I was completely out of line before. I apologise for putting pressure on you like that – it was wrong of me."

She glanced at the gap, and saw a sapphire-blue eye staring back at her. Kania didn't react. She waited, calmly and patiently, for the girl to reply.

"Marcus said that you beat up Proximo."

In the silence, Lucia's whisper of a voice carried easily.

"Yeah," Kania nodded. Geta must have told him. "I did."

"Why?"

"Because he called you a freak," Kania shook her head. "I've served with the Cabals. People think of them just as biotics - as if they're a gun, or a tank. But they're still turians. They're still like the rest of us. It's not right that they're treated the way they are."

"That's all you have to say?" Lucia said angrily. Her voice had lost its whispering quality. "That it's 'not right', the way we're treated? Well fucking newsflash, it's a fucking disgrace. We're shut off from careers; we're forced into these… these prisons! We do what the Hierarchy can't bring itself to do, and they don't fucking respect us enough for it!"

A dark silence crept over them, broken only by Lucia's echoing sobs.

"I remember, just after I joined the hastatim," Kania said quietly, not quite sure where she was going with this. "I was at a nightclub, on leave. I went up to the bar. As soon as the bartender saw my uniform, he said: 'we don't serve baby-killers here. Get out.' That was the first time anyone said something like that to me. I'll never forget it."

"You were on Taetrus," Lucia whispered. "Weren't you?"

"Yeah," Kania grimaced. "I was there. Saw it all."

"Did you find the ones that did it?"

"Eventually, yes."

"Did you hurt them?"

Kania looked warily through the gap. Lucia's eyes were as hard as diamonds.

"Yes."

"Good. They deserved that."

"So," Kania said quietly, keen to change the subject. "Will you come out now?"

There was a pause. Then, the door creaked open, nudging against Kania's armour. She jumped to her feet as Lucia edged out the door. Kania took her into a comforting embrace.

"I promise," Kania whispered, "That I'll never be like that with you again."

"I… I made a choice," Lucia said, brushing tears from her cheeks. "I want Vespasian to stay. At least, until you'll be the new Pathfinder."

Kania shrugged. "That's not happening any time soon."

"I hope it does though."

Kania smiled weakly, and pulled the young turian tighter.

* * *

"Simple drive system; twin hydrogen-oxygen fuel cells powering an eezo core; independent wheel suspension… reminds me of the old Makos."

"Fuck, I hated those things."

"Couldn't steer for shit, but the layout is relatively similar, which means that this must be the –"

"Motherfucker!"

"… Sorry Captain."

"Geta, next time you use that thruster without telling me, I will rip off your fucking arm and beat you to death with it."

"Well, at least we know where it is now. Need a hand up?"

"I think I'm just going to lie here and… try not to go into cardiac arrest."

Kania struggled to get her breathing back under control. When Geta had hit the thrusters, she had been thrown off her feet, as the Nomad leaped forwards some thirty metres. Her heart was beating so hard, she thought it was about to burst. Geta continued to switch between examining the Nomad's instruction manual and examining the vehicle's driver interface. As the team's technical expert, Geta was required to understand every piece of technology they would be using in Andromeda. He had already stripped down and reassembled every weapon provided to them in what could only be described as an astonishingly short space of time. Kania, as the Pathfinder XO, was also required to understand the technology to a relatively advanced degree, and so she had been thrown into the Nomad alongside Geta to "learn things first-hand." Maybe she shouldn't have thrown the Nomad manual out the window after arguing with Vespasian that she wasn't an engineer, and she didn't understand a fucking word of it. Maybe she should have thrown the manual at him.

"Does your family really not know that you're on the Pathfinder team?" Kania didn't even realise that Geta had asked her anything, until he nudged her with his boot. "Hey, you haven't died on me, have you?"

"Well, they do now," Kania sighed, thinking of Corvo, and grimacing. She wasn't particularly keen to have this conversation. She shot Geta an icy glare. "Is your family really dead?"

"Depends on your definition of 'dead'," Geta shrugged, flicking back and forth between two pages of the manual.

"There's only one definition of 'dead' in that context," Kania frowned. "Dead. As in, no longer alive. Deceased. Departed. Expired. To have shuffled off the mortal coil."

"I like to think they're dead in the metaphorical sense." Geta eyed Kania, who was still glaring angrily at the young detective. He smiled. "Relax. If you don't want to talk about your family, you don't have to. I was just making conversation."

"Well thank fuck for that," Kania muttered.

"My parents and I really don't get on," Geta said, bending over the control panel and fiddling with several switches. "Something about thinking I'm smarter than I really am…"

"Self-destruct sequence initiated!" Chimed a voice that was far too happy with the message it was repeating. "Detonation in sixty seconds!"

Confused, Geta flicked the switches back into position. Nothing happened. He swore, and began flicking through the manual. Kania leaped to her feet, and reached for the main power switch, but Geta slapped her hand away. "That won't do anything! The power is locked on; I need to figure this out!"

"Are you fucking insane?" Kania shouted at him.

"No, my parents had me tested!" Geta shouted back, still skimming through the manual.

"Detonation in forty-five seconds!"

"Geta, turn the fucking thing off!"

"I'm trying!" There was a screech metal as he prised open the compartment beneath the interface and began to sift through the wires.

"Detonation in thirty seconds!"

"Fuck this." Kania attempted to wrench the door open, but it was locked. "Open the door."

"It should be open!" Geta said, now actually sounding worried. "It must have locked itself when the self-destruct initiated!"

"Detonation in fifteen seconds!"

"If you get me killed, I will kick the motherfucking shit out of you in the afterlife!" Kania shouted. She was about to die, and all because she hadn't decided to just read the fucking manual and pretend to understand it. Correction, it would be because Vespasian had tossed her into a Nomad with a completely insane engineer.

"If you're not going to say anything helpful, don't say anything at all!"

"Fuck you, Geta!"

"Ten! Nine! Eight!"

Kania felt her knees give way. She slumped to the floor, her armour clanging against the metal. She thought about Zarius. The colonel, tough as old boots, who had stood up for her no matter what. She thought about Corvo. She hadn't even said goodbye to him. Tears began to flow down her face. Sure, he was interfering. Of course he had no right to tell her what to do. But she still wanted to say goodbye to him. He was her brother. She thought about her mother. She had said goodbye to her two years and five months ago to the day.

"Seven! Six! Five!"

"I miss you, mother," Kania whispered into the Nomad's hull. "I'll see you soon."

"Four! Three!"

She closed her eyes.

"Self-destruct sequence cancelled!"

Kania looked up, not quite believing that she was still alive. Geta was visibly shaking, but grinning broadly. Supporting himself on the control panel, he breathed a deep, laboured sigh of relief.

"The wiring was fucked. I'll let the engineers know about it," Geta said shakily. He looked down, and saw Kania huddled against the door. "Hey, it's okay. It's over."

Tears continued to drip down Kania's face and splash on the floor. Geta laid a hand on her shoulder, but she pushed it away angrily.

"Get the fuck away from me," Kania hissed. "What the fuck were you playing at?"

"Are you okay? You don't look okay." Geta leaned against the hull opposite Kania. "I know I almost blew us both up - and probably the entire hanger as well, but still."

"I said fuck off!"

"I don't think you're okay."

Kania pushed herself to her feet and wrenched open the now-unlocked door.

"I worked immigration when I first joined C-Sec," Geta said quietly. "You see all sorts. Refugees. People running from debtors. Migrants looking for a new life. When someone is trying to escape something, you begin to recognise the symptoms."

She paused, halfway out the door. Thinking hard. What was Geta playing at? What was he trying to prove? She glanced back at him. He was sweeping her with his dark, penetrating eyes. It made her feel uneasy, like he was breaking her down into tiny pieces. Like she was just another piece of technology to be understood. She shook off the feeling and stormed out across the hanger. Her footsteps echoed around her.

"It's your family, isn't it?" Geta called after her.

Kania stopped, breathing heavily, then spun on her heel and strode back to the Nomad. Geta was sat in the doorway, swinging his legs lazily. Kania grabbed him by the collar and pulled him out of the Nomad. Geta cried out in alarm, but it was cut short when Kania slammed him hard into the hull of the vehicle. The Nomad rocked with the force of the blow.

"Listen to me," Kania hissed. Geta squirmed in her grip, but she held him fast against the vehicle. "I'm not going to talk about my family. I'm not going to tell you why I'm so fucking desperate to get away from them that I'm leaving the fucking galaxy. It's _my_ concern. Not yours, understand?"

Geta, instead of replying, suddenly leaned forward and gently kissed her. Kania jerked away, and slapped Geta across the face, then rammed her knee into his crotch with all her might.

"What the fuck was that?" She shouted, slamming him against the Nomad's hull. "What the actual fuck!"

"Sorry," Geta groaned, clutching his crotch. "Misread some signals."

"What signals?" Kania exploded. "What part of that – in any uncertain terms – said 'Let's fuck right now'?"

"Let's just say I've been in similar situations before. I have a thing for powerful women." Geta blinked tears out of his eyes. "Fucking hell. I'm fairly certain you just ended my chances of having children. This must be how krogan feel."

"You can hardly say you didn't deserve that," Kania said, unsympathetically. She released Geta's collar, and he slid to the ground with a moan.

"That was the most disproportionate response I've ever received," he said in a voice that was at least an octave higher than before. "A slap, yes. But a knee in the crotch? Who the fuck does that? Come on!"

"Stop playing it up," Kania replied, folding her arms impatiently. "I didn't hit you that hard."

"Fuck me, that was painful! I think I'm going to have to go through puberty again!" Geta said through gritted teeth. "You have got some serious people-problems that need worked out."

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Kania rolled her eyes. "Come on. You've got some engineers to shout at. Or rather, squeak loudly at."


	5. Chapter 5

"Captain Felix. Major Vespasian informs me that you are having issues with another member of the Pathfinder team."

"Issue."

"I'm sorry?"

"Issue. Not issues. Singular, not plural."

"I see. And what is this issue, that is causing so much distress?"

"Do you want the diplomatic response, or the not-so-diplomatic response?"

"Let's hear both. I feel that I would find that entertaining."

"He's a prejudiced piece of shit whose idiotic parents should have used a more effective form of contraception."

"That was remarkably devoid of the word 'fuck', Captain."

"Thank you, Sir."

"And the diplomatic version?"

"That was the diplomatic version."

Primarch Rexus Fedorian laughed loudly. Kania grimaced, and kept her eyes staring straight forwards. Her jaw was, for the moment, clamped firmly shut. Although past experience reminded her that nothing short of a sturdy, physical restraint would keep it closed for long. Fedorian arched his fingers, and gazed at Kania.

"No."

"No?" Kania's head swung to face the Primarch. As predicted, her jaw had unclamped itself rather quickly. "What do you mean?"

"Captain Felix, it is less than a week until the Andromeda Initiative is due to launch," Fedorian ignored her blatant insubordination and rested his chin on his fingertips. "Sergeant Commodus passed the selection process with flying colours. He is trained in the technology, and his personal views on Cabalites aside, he is an excellent addition to the Pathfinder team. Therefore, my answer is no."

"But we can't function as a team!" Kania exclaimed, dropping, unbidden, her stiff and straight-backed position. "We'll be in unexplored territories! We need to know that we can rely on everyone around us!"

"Then I suggest you learn to get along," Fedorian said sharply. "Remember that the Andromeda Initiative is larger than you, Sergeant Commodus, or even myself. Petty squabbles are meaningless in the face of a project such as this."

"So you'll do nothing."

"It's out of my hands, Captain," Fedorian shrugged. "There is nothing I _can_ do."

Kania bit on her tongue, then carefully released it to quickly spit out, "Thank you for your time."

"No trouble at all, Captain Felix." Fedorian nodded faintly to her. "I'm glad to see that my faith in you was not misplaced."

"Thank you."

Kania was still pissed off when she returned to the barracks. In fact, she was so absorbed in her anger, that she walked straight into the Pathfinder team's room without hearing Pertinax talking on his omnitool in angry, hushed whispers. The C-Sec officer spun around in surprise, and clattered into one of the beds.

"Sorry, I'll have to call you back," he muttered into his omnitool. Kania heard a muffled, angry retort, before the connection was terminated. Pertinax smiled warmly at her. "Captain Felix. Did you need something?"

"Was I interrupting?" Kania eyed Pertinax's omnitool. "I can… you know, go."

"No," Pertinax dropped the smile and sighed, sitting down heavily on his bunk. "No. Everything's fine. Everything's just great."

"That's not how conversations sound when they're fine or great," Kania folded her arms. "Family?"

Pertinax nodded curtly.

"Want to talk about it?"

Pertinax snorted. "You're not really interested."

"No, I'm not," Kania admitted. "But I felt that I should at least pretend to look interested."

"Your faux-concern is noted," the scarred turian replied, with a grin. The scars on the side of his face tautened, stretching painfully as though the scars were about to reopen. "I hear you gave Geta a seeing-to. What did he do to deserve that?"

"Tried to have sex with me," Kania tumbled onto her thin mattress.

"Don't take it personally," Pertinax shrugged. "He does that with everyone. He's a good kid, but sometimes he just needs a firm hand."

"I'll bear that in mind."

"You're just going to hit him when he annoys you, aren't you?"

"Absolutely." Kania raised herself up onto one elbow. "You seem to know him well."

"I saved his life," Marcus gestured to his face. "First case he worked as a detective – some anti-human terrorist that got cocky – started taunting C-Sec. Geta traced the culprit to a flat in the wards. My team was sent along to breach and clear. As soon as he opened the door, Geta triggered an IED. I heard it activate. Instinct took over, and I covered him. My face got the worst of it."

"Well," Kania blinked in surprise. She certainly hadn't been expecting a life story. "Shit."

"Dredging up the past again, Marcus?" Geta strolled into the room. He tossed an energy gel sachet to Pertinax, then jumped up onto his bunk above Kania. "How did the call with Iola go?"

Pertinax looked slightly irked by the question. "Badly."

"She's _still_ not letting it go?" Geta's leg hung down the side of his bunk. "Meat-flavoured gel ration… What the fuck is 'meat flavour'?"

"I've learned not to bother questioning it," Pertinax tore open the sachet with his teeth and squeezed the brown gel into his mouth.

There was a hissing noise from above Kania, like a cat that had just been dunked into a bath of freezing cold water. "Oh, these are _not_ good!"

"What did you expect?" Pertinax grimaced as he choked down the glutinous gel. "We're not on the Citadel anymore."

"But is it too much to ask for semi-decent rations?" Geta complained. There was a crackle as Geta scrunched up the wrapper. "Anyway, I came to tell you that Vespasian wants you. Something about calibrations, I think."

"Something about calibrations?" Pertinac cocked his head to one side. "You couldn't be more specific."

"He was talking for a while. At least three minutes and forty-five seconds. I lost interest."

"What are the chances that he was telling _you_ to do these calibrations?" Marcus rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll go and see him."

"Have fun!" Geta called after him. "How did the meeting with Fedorian go?"

"How do you think?" Kania snapped at him. "We're too close to the launch date. We can't drop anyone now."

"Shame." Geta's upside-down head suddenly popped into view on the right side of Kania's bunk. He held out a gel sachet. "Want one? It's meat flavoured!"

"I'm fine, thanks," Kania said, with a hint of curtness in her voice.

"How much did Marcus tell you?" Geta asked, still hanging his head off his bunk.

"Just that he saved your life," Kania shrugged. "Wasn't all that interested in knowing, to be perfectly honest."

Geta's face suddenly grew serious. "You should be."

"What are you talking about?"

The young turian's head disappeared, then his boots thudded down on the opposite side of Kania's bunk.

"Marcus Pertinax is two things," Geta said quietly, sitting down on the end of Kania's bunk. She instinctively twitched her leg away from him. "Firstly, he's a pathological optimist."

"You don't like him because he's optimistic?"

"His wife is having _my_ child and he's still happy about it," Geta laughed humourlessly. Seeing the look on Kania's face, he sighed, and went on. "I know Iola from before C-Sec. We're old friends – we both grew up on the streets, used to take hallex together, that sort of thing. She got involved with Marcus, they were on-and-off for a while. After one particularly angry spat, she came to me."

"And you did what you seem to do with every woman," Kania said, rolling her eyes. "Is there a point to any of this?"

"That was just me venting some frustration," Geta said, raising a hand to stem her arguments. "He's too happy. Nobody should smile as much as he does. It's just plain unsettling."

"Geta, unless you have something meaningful to say, please shut up and fuck off."

Geta took a deep, shuddering breath. "Marcus has an in-built desire to save people. If he feels someone is in danger, he'll be compelled to go to their aid."

"What do you mean?" Kania sat up, her eyes narrowed. "Are you trying to fuck with me?"

"I already tried that, and I doubt I'll be trying again soon." Geta flashed a ghost of a smile. Kania felt herself begin to blush at the dazzling grin, marred though it was by the fact that it didn't reach his eyes. "He's a fucking good man. Got me off the streets when I was nineteen. Come twenty-one, I was the youngest detective in C-Sec. But if he sees someone in need, he'll rush in, guns blazing. No fear, no intelligence. And one day it's going to get him killed."

Both of them started as the door burst open, and Pertinax stalked in. "Geta, you were supposed to check the armoury on the Prospero!"

Geta frowned. "He didn't say anything about calibrations?"

"No," Pertinax growled at him. "Now scram. Vespasian is pissed off enough already."

"Going, going!" Geta waved away Pertinax's glare. He reached the door, gave Kania a meaningful glance, and then stage-whispered, "Gone!"

"What did he tell you?" Pertinax grunted at Kania.

"What do you mean?" Kania replied, evasively.

"I know when he's pulling tricks," the C-Sec officer said bluntly. "He got me out of here to talk to you."

"I don't know what…"

"I'm guessing it was about Iola," Marcus grimaced. "He's worried about her. Wrongly, of course."

"Why wrongly?"

"Iola is an asari - three hundred and twenty-six this year. She hasn't even hit matronhood yet," he snorted, then his expression softened. "I was going to die on her at some point. Better I leave before that happens. This way, she doesn't have to see me grow old and decrepit. And she gets someone to grow old with, even if it is Geta's kid. She won't be lonely for long."

Unbidden thoughts of her mother crossed Kania's mind.

She quickly made an excuse, and ran from the room.

Tears were flooding down her face.

* * *

"I don't see the point of doing this. It's almost exactly the same as the Havoc squads in the Legion."

"Geta has reported some minor malfunctions with the jetpacks, so we're testing everything now."

"What kind of malfunctions?"

"Some of them have cut out mid-flight."

"Vespasian, I am not fucking using this thing if it's going to cut out on me."

"That's why we're testing it now. Lucia will catch you if it fails."

"We're fucking three days out! Why are they only getting tested now?"

"They only got distributed yesterday. Geta spent most of the day figuring out how they work, so get moving."

"Proximo, get the fuck over here and trade jetpacks!"

"Kania…"

"What? He's expendable."

Kania watched as Proximo stepped into the centre of the hanger, a slight nervousness in the old soldier's gait. To one side, Lucia stood ready.

"Test for Jetpack Number Six. All non-essential personnel clear the area," Vespasian called out. "Three, two, one, start!"

The jetpack fixed to Proximo's back flared into life, and he surged up from the floor of the hanger to hover steadily some ten metres above the ground. Sparks flared from the rear of the jetpack, and it suddenly cut out. Proximo tumbled to the ground head first, arms flailing. Kania glanced at Lucia, who was watching impassively, hands by her sides. There was a roar of sound from beside Kania, and Pertinax darted out into the middle of the hanger, his jetpack flaring brightly. With a crash, he collided with the falling Proximo, and gently lowered him the last few metres to the ground. Out of the corner of her eye, Kania saw the fading orange light of an omnitool. She turned her head ever so slightly, and saw Alexia rolling her eyes, a bitter expression on her face as the orange light receded.

"Fucking little bitch," Proximo moaned from the floor. "Fucking freak was supposed to catch me."

"What the fuck happened, Lucia?" Vespasian shouted at her.

"I would have caught him, if he was in any real danger," Lucia shot back.

The retort successfully stunned everyone in the hanger, not least because Lucia had rarely spoken above a whisper to any of them. Vespasian, clearly unsure of how to act, simply shut his gaping mouth, and signalled for Geta to approach. The engineer stormed over to Proximo, muttering fiercely under his breath and wrenching a toolkit from his belt. Geta popped open a panel on the jetpack, and a plume of black smoke was immediately jettisoned into his face. Waving it away, he began to tinker with the wiring, still muttering to himself. By Kania's reckoning, the engineer had now said the word 'fuck' at least thirty-seven times.

"Good thing you weren't wearing that one."

Kania turned, and saw Alexia had joined her. The sharpshooter's eyes were fixed on Proximo. There was a curious expression on her face – one that reminded Kania, rather unsettlingly, of a cat toying with a mouse before it ate it.

"Something tells me it might have gone very differently if I'd used it," Kania said quietly.

"If you're going to have a problem…"

"Lex, in Andromeda I need to know that I can rely on everyone to work together," Kania sighed, and gestured towards Proximo. "If that means we have to work with this prejudiced piece of shit, then so be it."

"I'll take the handgrenades out of his pillow then."

Kania smiled. "That would be a nice start."

Geta closed the panel, apparently satisfied that the jetpack was fixed.

"Fucking piece of shit fucking thing!" Geta shouted, as the jetpack suddenly burst back into life, sending Proximo skidding along the ground.

Alexia glanced at Kania, who was struggling to keep herself from bursting into laughter. Kania smirked at her. "That was just for fun. Last time, I promise."

"Lex, Kania," Geta's voice crackled in Kania's ear. "I'd appreciate it if you stopped messing with the jetpack."

"We have no idea what you're talking about," Alexia replied, smirking at Kania.

"Very fucking funny, but you don't have to spend thirty fucking minutes checking every fucking wire in this piece of shit afterwards."

"Geta, you're supposed to find joy in the work you do for the Hierarchy!" Kania said in a mockingly bright tone.

"Ha-fucking-ha. I'm having so much fucking fun cleaning up the fucking mess you and Lexi are causing."

Alexia burst out laughing, drawing confused looks from Pertinax and Vespasian.

"I hate you, Lex."

"Please," Alexia snorted. "You're infatuated by anything with a pulse."

"That is the last time I'm having sex with you, pulse or no pulse!"

Kania shot Alexia a look. The sharpshooter shrugged. "What? I was curious. Six hundred years is a long time to go without sex. The last thing I want to do is wake up in Andromeda with a hankering to fuck."

"Was he at least any good?" Kania asked, shaking her head.

"Unfortunately, yes…"

"Wait a minute," Kania said, a horrifying thought crossing her mind. "His bunk is on top of mine!"

"Well," Alexia turned away from her. "We couldn't exactly have sex above Lucia. Poor girl's been through enough already without waking up to that in the morning."

"Alexia, that wasn't funny," Pertinax growled at the sharpshooter as he approached, brushing dust from his armour.

"I've already spoken to her," Kania snapped at him. "Not that he didn't deserve it."

"Deserve it?" Pertinax frowned. "Because he has an opini-"

"It's not that he has an opinion," Alexia snarled. "It's that he has the _wrong_ opinion on biotics."

"There's such a thing as a wro-"

"Of course there's such a thing as a wrong opinion," Alexia rolled her eyes. "Just because someone has an opinion, that doesn't make it right, nor should it be treated as such. Biotics are individuals with particular powers. They are _people_. And he is treating them like animals, as if they're beneath him."

"But don't you thi-"

"Do not fucking argue with me!" Alexia warned him, her eyes burning with unsuppressed anger. "I have a fucking PhD, I will argue you into the fucking ground!"

"Well," Kania smiled and watched as Proximo stepped back into the centre of the hanger. "I believe that settles that argument."

* * *

"Ladies and gentlemen, in a few moments, you'll be placed into cryosleep. The next time we wake up - in six hundred years - we will be at the forefront of the greatest multi-species project in history. Alongside you will be twenty thousand turians. They will be relying on us to find new worlds to colonise. They need us to find a new home. Never before have we had such a duty placed on us as now. Good luck to all of you. And see you on the other side."

"So, we're sleeping with twenty thousand people, all at once? Biggest. Orgy. Ever."

"Geta, please do us a favour and shut the fuck up."

"Yes Sir, Major, Sir, Major."

"Shut up, kid. Take something seriously for once."

"I will not!"

"Fuck it, everyone just get into the pods."

Pertinax smacked Geta across the head, and shoved him into his cryopod, slamming the door in the grinning turian's face. Proximo stamped over to his own pod, brushed off Vespasian as he attempted to speak to him, and quickly shut the door. Alexia was hugging Lucia tightly, whispering in the young biotic's ear. Kania could see the fear in Lucia's eyes, and a sudden urge to comfort the young girl swept over her. However, Vespasian quickly broke the pair apart, gesturing for them to get into their pods. Kania lay back in her cryopod, trying to clear her mind of any unwanted thoughts. She was leaving the Milky Way. Her mother, Corvo, the hastatim. Everything could be left behind. She was free of it, at last.

Vespasian leaned over her, one hand gripping the door of her pod. "Ready?"

Kania nodded, and Vespasian shut the door, shrouding her in darkness.

She was leaving the galaxy. A broad smile spread across her face.

She was finally free.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N**

 **From this point on, there will be a massive SPOILER ALERT stamp over everything. I'm changing bits of the story, but for the most part I'll be following the canon. You have been warned.**

* * *

"Okay, follow my finger."

"I'm fine."

"You've just been asleep for six hundred years. We need to check everything's working. Follow my finger."

"If anything was wrong, I'd be fucking screaming at you about it."

"Better we find it now than later, now please –"

"If you tell me to fucking follow your fucking finger one more time, I'm going to ram it right up your –"

Kania was cut off as the Ark suddenly lurched to one side. She tumbled across the floor, medical equipment and storage crates bouncing around her. Alarms howled. People screamed. Something solid struck Kania's head, and there was a flash of blinding white light. All sound was replaced by a deafening ringing. Kania suddenly felt herself drifting through the air. The artificial gravity must have failed. The shouts became dulled. The whiteness receded. The screaming had stopped. Kania reached out and grabbed hold of a bed, anchoring herself close to the ground so that her fall back to the floor would be far less painful. The human doctor that had been examining her drifted past. Droplets of blood followed her, like a trail of tiny red balloons. Kania reached out and grabbed the doctor's arm. The doctor was unresisting.

Suddenly, Kania dropped heavily to the ground, knocking the wind from her lungs. The crates and medical equipment crashed down around her. Kania felt for a pulse, and found nothing. She stared at the doctor, shocked that she had actually killed the human. The blood from her nose splattered on the clinically white floor. There was no point trying to save her – Kania had inflicted enough injuries to know the difference between a fatal one, and one that would leave an enemy crippled, or merely wounded. She checked her omnitool's time and date.

"Time of death: 2819, day 0," Kania said to nobody in particular. "T-plus fifteen minutes."

"Everyone in here okay?" A familiar voice called. Kania looked up. Alexia stood in the door, Lucia by her side. They both saw the body at the same time. "Oh shit…"

Lucia ran over to the doctor, straddled the human, and began to furiously pump the human's chest.

"Lucia," Kania sighed. "Lucia, she's…"

"She can pull through," Lucia said frantically. "I can get her back!"

"Lucia, stop," Kania reached out and tugged on the Cabalite's arm. Lucia shrugged her off and continued to beat on the doctor's chest. "Lucia, she's fucking dead!"

"I can save her!" Lucia snapped. She was slowing down, breathing heavily. "I can… I can…"

"Lucia, you know she's gone," Kania got unsteadily to her feet and pulled the younger turian away. "She's gone. Leave it."

Alexia grimaced as she walked over. "Our first casualty, and we haven't even hit groundside."

"Fuck me," Kania sighed, leaning back against the bed. "That's not exactly a good start. What happened, anyway?"

"No idea," Alexia shrugged. "We just got woken up now."

"Pathfinder Team to the armoury!" Vespasian's voice called over the PA system. "Repeat, Pathfinder Team to the armoury!"

"Guess we're about to find out," Kania muttered. "Who still needs to get woken up?"

"Geta was just coming out of cryo," Alexia replied. "Commodus and Pertinax were still in their pods, last I saw."

"Get them out now," Kania said. She grabbed a nearby doctor and dragged him over to Alexia and Lucia. "The Pathfinder Team just got fastracked, get them out now."

"Hey, I have patients to see now!" The doctor complained.

"Yeah, you do," Alexia snarled. "And they're currently in the Pathfinder cryo pods, so let's go!"

"See you up there." Kania glanced at the body. Blood was leaking from the doctor's nose. "And find somebody to deal with her."

Vespasian was examining a datapad when Kania entered the armoury. Without saying a word, she immediately opened her locker and began to fit on her armour. The doctor was still on her mind. Lifeless. Staring. Her glazed eyes full of accusation. The bright white and blue armour reflected the glaring lights above her. She snatched out the Pathfinder-issue assault rifle and pistol, the maglocks on the weapons snapping them into place on Kania's armour. Finally, she jammed on her helmet, the vacuum seal hissing as it locked into place.

"What are we looking at?" Kania asked, without looking at Vespasian.

"We don't really know," Vespasian said hesitantly. "We hit some sort of dark energy field – the Ark's taken some damage. We don't really understand it. Our tech is going haywire trying to scan it."

"Where are we right now?" Kania opened up her omnitool and checked the tech applications. Invasion.

"Habitat One."

"I thought we were headed to Habitat Three."

"We were. But then we landed here."

"Well," said a voice from behind them. "I now have little to no faith in our navigators." Geta yawned and wandered over to his locker, rubbing his neck. "Urgh. Six hundred years will give you such a crick in the neck. Where are we anyway?"

"Habitat One," Kania and Vespasian said together.

Geta opened his locker and pulled out his armour. "Not Habitat Three?"

"We're not at Habitat Three?" Marcus frowned as he entered the room. "Where are we?"

"Habitat One," Geta, Kania, and Vespasian replied together.

Pertinax caught the helmet that Geta tossed to him. "Why aren't we at Habitat Three?"

"Fuck knows," Geta shrugged, and tugged on his helmet.

"What's this about not being at Habitat Three?" Alexia strode in with Lucia at her heels, immediately making for their lockers. "Where are we?"

"Habitat One," the four replied with a well-practiced monotony.

"Where's Proximo?" Vespasian asked, as Alexia tugged open the locker beside his.

"He's just cleaning up in the medbay," Alexia shrugged. She glanced at Kania, and shook her head.

"What's going on?" Proximo asked, wiping his hands on his uniform and leaving bloody streaks.

"The man himself," Alexia muttered.

"Mission's gone to shit," Kania said bluntly.

"The mission has _not_ gone to shit," Vespasian said firmly. "Yes, we are not where we intended to be. Yes, the Ark is damaged, and yes, we can't find the Nexus. But we're explorers. We've found an Initiative settlement on Habitat One. We'll make contact, and they can fill us in on the location of the Nexus."

"Don't forget to bring your can-do attitudes, everyone!" Geta said brightly.

"Geta, Kania," Vespasian went on, ignoring Geta. "You're in my shuttle. We're expecting high levels of radiation, so be careful outside the shuttles. Let's go."

Kania watched through the tinted window of her shuttle as the Pathfinder team broke through the atmosphere. Flame wreathed the shuttles, turning them a blazing, fiery red. The frame shuddered erratically, rattling Kania's teeth. Finally, they broke through the atmosphere, through the cloud coverage, and delved straight into a sandstorm. Wind howled around them. Sand beat against the shuttle in rattling sheets, drumming the hull like a jackhammer.

"Oh shit," Geta swore, his voice distorted by his crackling radio. "What the fuck is this?"

"What's going on?" Vespasian asked, lurching towards a guard rail.

"Fucking giant sandstorm, that's what!" Geta shouted back. "Can't see for shit!"

"Can you still land?"

"Shuttle One to Shuttle Two," Geta called, ignoring Vespasian's question. "I want you in visual range. Equipment's going haywire, I can't find you on my sensors."

There was complete silence. Over the howls of the sandstorm, Kania could faintly hear the sound of Geta punching the radio.

"Shuttle One," Geta shouted into the radio, "Do you copy? Shuttle –"

He never finished the sentence. Geta swore profusely over the radio, and the shuttle jerked violently to one side. Kania saw something huge, dark, and angular suddenly loom up out of the sandstorm. There was a sound of shearing metal. The shuttle began to lose altitude, dropping down until they were flying low over the sea of dunes. The rear end of the shuttle, now lacking one of its thrusters, began to sink towards the ground, skimming the tops of the dunes.

"We've lost one of the rear thrusters," Geta informed them, a hint of panic in his voice.

"Fucking hell," Kania shouted to Vespasian. "I thought this was supposed to be a Golden World, not a fucking deathtrap!"

"Can you make it to the settlement?" Vespasian asked Geta, ignoring Kania's remark.

"I don't know!" Geta shouted back.

The rear of the shuttle was now shuddering as it slammed into the dunes, each one harder than the last. The shuttle began to whine in protest, the frame rattling with each beat of the dunes. With each strike, Kania and Vespasian were hurled off their feet, before thudding back down onto the floor.

"Geta, put us down before we crash!" Vespasian shouted to him.

"No!" Geta snapped back at him. "I can make it! We're almost there!"

"That wasn't a request!"

"I can make it!"

Glancing out of the window, Kania could see they were approaching a small cluster of buildings circled by a faint shimmering blue wall. Huge pylons stuck up from the sand, looming over the buildings like enormous metal trees. With a final, shrieking whine, the engine cut out on the shuttle. They glided through the air like a metal dart, slowly drifting towards the ground. Despite the possibility of her imminent death, Kania could only marvel at the calmness of it all. Through the window she could see the dunes rising and falling, like a snapshot of a turbulent sea in a storm.

"Attention passengers, this is your captain speaking," Geta said in a surprisingly calm voice, "Please brace for impact, this shuttle is about to get severely fucked up."

Fucking hell, Kania thought. For the second time in her life, Geta was probably about to get her killed. She held onto the guard rail with a white-knuckle grip. Across from her, Vespasian was doing the same. With a heavy thud that reverberated around them, the shuttle struck a particularly large dune and flipped over. Kania's grip on the guard rail was broken, and she was thrown hard against the ceiling, driving the breath from her lungs as the shuttle skidded along the sand. Kania was tossed against one side of the shuttle, then the transport struck something solid, and she was thrown into Vespasian. He attempted to hold onto her, but Kania slapped his hands away with a snarl, and she was tossed back against the wall. With a final, shuddering screech of metal, the shuttle groaned to a stop.

"Told you I could make it," Geta laughed over the radio.

Kania pushed herself up, swallowing blood, and hammered on the emergency door release. The door burst open with enough force to rip it off its hinges. Kania staggered out into the harsh gaze of the sun. Vespasian crawled out after her, his helmet twisting around and examining the settlement. They had somehow managed to land inside the settlement, much to Kania's astonishment.

"Where is everyone?" Geta asked, sliding out of the ship and looking around. "Shit, this isn't good."

"Let's look around," Vespasian instructed them. "First Contact Protocol is engaged from this point. No shots fired unless fired upon."

"Understood," Geta muttered, with a hint of resentment.

"Kania?"

"I'm saying nothing," she growled at him. "If I'm about to get shot, I'm not waiting around for them to do it."

Vespasian sighed, and led them towards the nearest building. "Come on."

"Where do you think the others are?" Kania spoke quietly into the silence.

"We lost them pretty soon into the sandstorm," Geta shrugged. "Could be anywhere."

"There's nothing we can do for them just now," Vespasian said curtly. "Especially now that we're lacking any kind of transportation."

"I still nailed the landing," Geta chuckled..

"Geta, we just crashed. Badly," Kania shouldered her rifle, glancing around at the silent buildings. It was making her uneasy. "Crashing does not constitute landing."

"What is crashing," Geta said lightly, as they ascended the steps, "But a more interesting form of landing!"

"You think imminent fiery death is 'interesting'?" Kania frowned. "You're weird."

"Life would be boring if there wasn't some danger of imminent fiery death every now and then!"

"Quiet!" Vespasian said sharply. Kania and Geta froze. Vespasian leaned closer to the door, listening intently.

Kania looked at the door, then at Geta, then at Vespasian. Then she kicked the door down. At the end of a long, narrow hallway, a pair of grey-skinned aliens with rock-like bony growths across their skin jumped up in surprise, snatching up bulbous greenish weapons and shouting incoherently. Kania froze, her rifle raised. For the first time in her life, Kania was at a complete loss for words. She tried to say something – that she wasn't a threat; that they weren't here to murder everyone in spite of appearances. In spite of the pressures of making first contact, and in spite of a mouth that had never gained the ability to shut itself for any great length of time, Kania could only manage to spit out two words.

"Well, shit."

Nice going, idiot, Kania thought. First contact made, and all you could manage was 'well, shit.' Good one, Felix. Highly-articulate diplomat, you are not. Vespasian roughly pushed her rifle down, and walked forwards, his hands raised. He stepped slowly and patiently down the hall, only ever a few steps ahead of Kania and Geta.

"Please calm down," Vespasian said slowly. The aliens glanced at one another, and kept their rifles raised. Vespasian held his hands outstretched, showing he wasn't armed. Although, it seemed to do little good when the turians on either side of him were constantly angling for a shot over his shoulder. "Please. Calm. Down."

"Vespasian," Kania growled at him. She was all for diplomacy, she just wasn't particularly fond of getting shot. "Be careful."

"That's enough out of you," he snapped back at her.

"Stop moving," Geta murmured. "I can't get a clear shot."

"Good."

"They look awfully hostile to me."

"Maybe that's because Felix kicked the door in and pointed a gun at them," Vespasian snapped at him. "This might be our first contact. Let's make a good impression."

"By getting our heads blown off?" Kania snorted. One of the aliens now examined her, its pale eyes searching her like spotlights. Kania simply glared back, hoping that her baleful, insolent stares had not lost their touch over six hundred years. After all, Kania thought, the words 'fuck off' never really lose their meaning, even with a language barrier.

"Nobody will get their head blown off if you just keep your fucking cool, Felix," Vespasian hissed at her.

Kania glanced at Geta. In contrast to his jovial appearance several moments before, his face was grim, his eyes fixed on the aliens. With each slow, patient step Vespasian took towards the aliens, his finger tightened around the trigger of his shotgun.

"Looks like natural bone armour," Geta muttered to Kania.

"Any advice?" Kania murmured in reply.

The engineer shrugged. "Shoot them in the head."

"Weapons down," Vespasian growled at them.

Kania grimaced, but lowered her rifle all the same.

"We are not enemies," Vespasian turned back to the aliens, speaking in the same slow tone. He pointed at himself. "Friends."

One of the aliens pointed at something on Vespasian's chest, and raised his rifle, shouting in his unintelligible language. Kania instinctively raised her own weapon, and centred the iron sights on the unnaturally pale eye of the closest alien. Suddenly, her rifle was shunted to one side. Vespasian was rounding on her, teeth bared in a snarl. But the sudden action was all that seemed necessary to push the aliens over the edge. There was a single, echoing gunshot. Vespasian's headless body slumped onto Kania, blood, brain, bone, and armour fragments oozing over her.

Kania screamed as Vespasian's body dragged her to the floor, pumping blood across her visor and obscuring her vision. She heard two dull blasts from a shotgun, followed by cries of pain. With a shriek, she shoved Vespasian's body off of her and scrambled backwards until she hit the wall, where she sat, hands over her visor, taking short, shallow, panicked breaths. There was a strangled cry, swiftly cut off by another shotgun blast. Then, silence. Kania felt a hand close around her wrist, tugging it away. With a scream, she punched blindly in front of her, and felt her knuckles connect with the smooth, solid surface of a visor. Another hand closed around her other wrist, gently pulling it away.

"Kania, listen to me!" Geta shouted into her ear. "You're going into shock! I need you to slow your breathing!"

Kania shook her head violently and tried to push him away, but Geta's grip was firmly locked around her wrists. With a screech of anger, Kania kicked out wildly at him, catching the other turian in his stomach. Geta fell with a cry of surprise, releasing his grip on Kania's wrists. She leaped to her feet and sprinted blindly out into the blazing heat. There was a blur of colour – purple, blue, black, and brown. Something collided with her, sending Kania crashing to the ground. All of the breath was knocked out of Kania's lungs. All she could do was open and close her mouth soundlessly, like a fish out of water, staring up through the haze of blood covering her visor at the faint shape sitting astride her.

"Back off!" Geta shouted. "Hands where I can see them!"

"Hey, it's okay!" Said the shape on top of Kania. Feminine. Blue. It could only be an asari. "I know this looks bad, but I promise I'm not trying to kill anyone!"

"Stand up," Geta ordered the asari. Kania felt the pressure on her stomach lift. Her guts were churning. She could feel something rising up her stomach. Kania scrabbled at her helmet seal, trying to wrench the helmet off. " _Slowly_!"

"Okay, I get it!" The asari snapped. "She needs help! So unless _you_ are going to pull that helmet off her, stop fucking around!"

"Keep back!" Geta said from somewhere by Kania's head. "Make a move and I'll kill you."

"Still as a statue," the asari said mockingly.

Kania heard her helmet seal hiss. The bloody visor disappeared, revealing a dazzlingly blue sky, then warm, fresh air drifted across her face. Kania turned onto her stomach and vomited into the sand. Kania rolled onto her back and finally steadied her breathing. In a single day, she had directly caused the deaths of two people. Fucking hell, she thought to herself. This was like Taetrus all over again.

"Well, that was kinda gross," the asari grimaced, then she sighed. "Right, no moving!"

Kania raised her head, and saw a young asari in a purple jacket that exposed her midriff.

"Geta, put the fucking gun down," she snapped at him.

"But –"

"Do you really want to argue with me right now?" Kania interrupted hotly. She turned back to the asari. "Who are you?"

"Oh, right! Name's Peebee!" The asari said brightly, stepping forward and shaking Kania's hand. For some inexplicable reason, Kania felt herself blushing. Either that, or she was about to be sick again. The asari eyed the symbol on her chest. "You're the Pathfinders, aren't you?"

"Kania Felix, Pathfinder XO," Kania said mechanically. Geta coughed behind her. Kania glanced at him. "What?"

"Ehhhh, you're actually the Pathfinder now."

Kania stared at him, mouth agape.

"With Vespasian dead," Geta shrugged. "You take over. From here on out, it's all your call."

"Well," Kania's head was spinning. She felt like she was about to throw up again. "Shit."


	7. Chapter 7

"Your name is just… Peebee?"

"Well, it's a shortened version of my name."

"Which is what, exactly?"

"That's the real mystery."

"Fine. And those things? They a mystery too?"

"Kett. At least, that's what the high-ups on the Nexus called them. Nobody's really gotten to talking with them."

Kania stared hollowly ahead, listening to Geta speaking to the asari. The blood on her armour and helmet had congealed quickly in the glare of the sun. Vespasian was dead. The three words were stuck in her head; it was all she could think about. He was a military hero – a charismatic leader on and off the battlefield. Kania, on the other hand, was worth shit in the eyes of most turians. She'd been promoted on account of her skill on the battlefield – and the fact that her predecessor had been shot in the head by a sniper. Not too different from this time around then, Kania thought bitterly. Except now, she had to play diplomat and explorer. Better practice some more lines beyond 'well, shit.' Maybe 'fuck me' would go down better. Kania glanced at the blood-smeared helmet in her hands. Knowing her luck, this would probably end up with someone else's blood spattered across her face.

"Does she do this a lot?"

"Have you ever had someone's head explode all over your face?"

"Well, once in the park."

"I actually don't know how to respond to that."

"We should find the others," Kania said, in a cracked voice. Peebee and Geta stopped talking, and stared at her. It was the first time she'd spoken in the half-hour since Vespasian had died. "We should link up with the rest of the team. Then…"

Kania sighed and ground her palms into her brow, trying to think.

"Then?" Peebee prompted.

"I don't fucking know," Kania snapped at the asari, throwing up her hands in exasperation. "I don't have a fucking plan right now! I don't have any knowledge of the area, the system, or the fucking _galaxy_! I can't… I can't fucking _think_!" Kania pushed herself to her feet and stalked back and forth, twisting her hands together. "It wasn't supposed to happen this way! This wasn't how it was supposed to go! I never expected… I never thought… _fuck_!" Kania slammed her fist into the wall of the building. Pain flared in her knuckles. She struck out again and again. The pain helped to externalise her rage. It made things easier to deal with - something she'd learned with the help of a razor blade in the aftermath of Taetrus. " _Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!_ "

Kania sank to her knees and leaned her head against the wall, breathing heavily. She could feel the blood trickling down her hand inside her gauntlet.

"Peebee, you've been here longer than us," Geta said quickly, turning to the asari. "Can you help?"

"Sure," she shrugged. "I will warn you though, I'm not much of a tour guide."

"We'll need transport," Kania glanced around, and her cold blue eyes settled on Peebee. "Do you have a ship?"

"I'm…" Peebee bit her lip and thought for a moment, shifting uncomfortably under Kania's gaze. "I'm borrowing one."

"What do you mean you borrowed a ship?" Kania asked irritably.

"You know," Peebee shrugged. "You take something then give it back later."

"I get the impression that this is something of a unilateral agreement," Geta said shrewdly, turning his piercing eyes on the asari.

"By all means," Peebee fluttered her eyelashes at Geta. "Keep your impressions to yourself." The asari turned to Kania. "I'll make you a deal."

Kania folded her arms and cocked her head. "I'm all ears."

"I lend you my shuttle, you lend me a few guns, some bodies to hold those guns, and a little help with a problem I've got."

"What's the problem?"

"I'll tell you later."

"We're not going anywhere until–" Geta began.

"Geta, you're flying," Kania interrupted him, standing up and walking away. Then she stopped, realising her mistake. "Peebee, where is this ship of yours?"

"I'll show you on one condition: I'm flying it."

"No," Geta said bluntly. "I'm trained in high-speed shuttle chases, mid-flight combat, and vehicle immobilisation techniques. I'm flying the ship."

"Not to be rude," the asari cocked her head. "But the last shuttle you flew is currently lying over there, on its roof, minus one thruster!"

"I will admit, that is not the best example of my abilities."

"Geta, just let her fly the fucking shuttle," Kania sighed.

"But –"

"Just fucking do it!" Kania screamed at him. "For fuck's sake, just follow a fucking order _for once_! Just do me that one fucking favour! No _questions_ , no _arguing_ , just fucking do what you're fucking told!"

A long silence followed this outburst. Geta eyed Kania warily. Finally, he nodded, and jerked his head at Peebee. "Lead the way."

The white shuttle soared over the dunes as if someone had tossed a giant, sun-bleached brick over the landscape. On one side there was a huge outcrop of dusty orange-brown cliffs, casting a long shadow across the sands. One other side lay a wide lake, reflecting the cloudless blue sky on its perfectly still surface. Time didn't seem to pass here, Kania thought. Nothing moved. It just was. Were they not probably about to head straight into a firefight, Kania would have liked to spend some time here. The vast emptiness and silence appealed to her. Everything seemed to just wash away under the sun.

"We lost the other shuttle around here," Geta said over the noise of the engine. "We hit one of those structures."

Kania looked outside, and saw three tall, angular pillars rising out of the sand. They reminded her unnervingly of the dorsal fins on a shark.

"Pathfinder Team," Kania called into her radio's emergency frequency. "This is Kania Felix. Respond if you can hear us. Over."

She listened intently, but there was no reply. Just static.

"Pathfinder Team, respond!" Kania repeated. "Alexia? Lucia? Proximo? Marcus? Anyone out there?"

Again, she listened, again, there was no reply. Just static. Kania sighed. Then, there was a bubble of static.

"This is Kania Felix!" Kania was almost shouting into her microphone. "If there is anyone out there, respond now!"

"Th…. Ale… tur… Pi… wn… ease…"

"Geta, can you clean up that signal?" Kania said, her voice frantic, her head swivelling to face him. The technician nodded, and began to type furiously on his omnitool. After several tense moments, the message came through clearly.

"This is Lieutenant Alexia Verus of the turian Ark Natanus. We are pinned down and require assistance! Anyone out there, please respond!"

"Alexia!" Kania's guts filled with ice. "This is Kania! What's your position? What's your status?"

"Kania? Shit, I'm happy to hear your voice." Alexia sighed with relief. In the background, Kania could hear bursts of gunfire and dull explosions. "Transferring our coordinates now. We're pinned down, lost our shuttle, but everyone's more or less in one piece. For n– MARCUS COVER THAT FUCKING LEFT FLANK!"

"Coordinates received," Kania nodded, and switched her radio to contact Peebee in the pilot's cabin. "Peebee, get us to these coordinates on the fucking double."

"You know this is as fast as this thing goes, right?" The asari replied bemusedly.

"We could paint it red," Geta suggested.

"What would that do?" Kania frowned.

"Make it go faster," the engineer shrugged.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why would it go faster? Colour has no impact on speed. In fact, the added weight of painting the shuttle would marginally decrease the speed."

"I was _joking_." Geta said slowly, putting an unnecessary amount of emphasis on each word.

"It wasn't a very good joke then," Kania snorted.

"Ehhh, guys!" Peebee said hesitantly. "There's a lot of kett down there. Like, a lot of them. Like, more than twenty."

Kania spun to face the window. In the shadows of another of the strange, angular, grey constructs, Kania could see bursts of gunfire briefly illuminating several clearly turian figures. Nearby, the smoke plumed from the smouldering wreckage of a shuttle. The flames still licked at the blackened frame. Further out, several squads of the bone-encrusted aliens approached cautiously. Here and there, a body slumped to the ground, minus its head.

"Peebee, bring me right over one of those squads," Kania said, cracking her neck. "I'm in the mood to hit something really, _really_ hard."

"This seems like a terrible idea," the asari replied mildly. "But sure. Why not."

"Kania," Geta growled, grabbing her by the arm. "You're the Pathfinder now. You can't be reckless like this."

"Get the fuck off me," Kania snapped, wrenching her arm out of his grip and hitting the door release. "And don't fucking tell me how to act."

Kania stepped out into the empty space. Air whipped at her blood-streaked face. Kania bared her teeth in a grim smile and snapped out her dual omniblades, casting an intense orange glow onto her upper body. As the ground loomed up, Kania flared her jetpack and slowed her descent. She hovered some twenty metres above the squad for a moment, picking a target. They were so focussed on the turians in the structure that they hadn't noticed Kania above them. Kania cut off her jetpack and dropped. For a few seconds, there was silence. Nothingness. Emptiness. Then the two blades each sliced through the back of her target from shoulder to opposite hip in a fiery cross. The alien didn't even have time to scream before his body split into four clean-cut parts. As the remaining five turned to face her, Kania shrieked a battlecry and propelled herself forwards, letting out all of her anguish in a bloodcurdling howl.

The first kett fell to the ground, decapitated, greenish blood spurting from his severed neck. A moment later, his head followed, the sand coating the open wound in a fine dusting of particles. The second warrior tried to raise his weapon, but Kania activated her jetpack, and darted into the space next to him, omniblade raised. She met almost no resistance as the momentum carried the blade through skin, flesh, and bone. The third kett as quicker than his comrades. He snapped off a shot at Kania, who simply let her kinetic barriers deflect the blow. A faint blue bubble appeared around Kania as the shield flared into life. Retracting one of her omniblades, Kania snatched her pistol from her thigh and fired a string of shots into the alien's chest, sending it staggering backwards, acid-green blood oozing from the wounds. It slumped to the ground, not completely dead, but struggling to breath. Kania had seen plenty of injuries. She knew the difference between one that would draw out the death and make it as painful as possible, and one that would end the life quickly. Indifferent to the kett's suffering, Kania turned to search for a new target, breathing heavily from the exertion.

Unfortunately, Kania's new target found her first.

Kania was thrown from her feet as one of the three remaining kett – one that stood taller than his comrades, and was considerably broader – barrelled into her with the force of a small tank. Kania tumbled across the dune, spraying sand in all directions. She heard the unmistakable whine of a minigun spinning up, and her heart skipped a beat. Kania scrambled to her feet as the large kett and his two smaller companions opened fire. Sand kicked up around her feet as she darted back and forth, closing the distance with bursts from her jetpack. The minigun raked across her kinetic barrier, which flared bright as the sky above her. It was close to breaking. Kania surged forwards, and leaped the last few metres onto the chest of the large kett, catching hold of one of the bony growths on its shoulder.

The alien bore her weight remarkably well, barely struggling under the weight of a fully-armoured turian and a rather large minigun. Kania stared into the pale, unfeeling eyes for a fraction of a second, then thrust her omniblade into its chest. With a howl of pain, the kett dropped its minigun and closed its arms around Kania, crushing her into a bear hug and pinning arms to her sides. The omniblade continued to grind into the kett's chest, but Kania couldn't move it to cut herself free. She struggled to breathe, gasping soundlessly as the kett continued to squeeze her tighter and tighter. The noise of the battle beyond them was growing fainter and fainter. Her vision began to darken. The kett's cold, pale eyes simply watched as Kania was crushed beneath the thick bone-covered arms.

Then they were thrown apart with a burst of purple-blue energy. Kania fell to the ground, sucking in air. Sound rushed back in like a tidal wave, colours sharpened painfully. Looking up through her blurred vision, Kania saw the large kett floating in the air, its body shimmering with purple-blue energy. Just past it, the other, smaller kett were swiping at a white drone that was buzzing around their heads like a wasp, periodically knocking into their heads. Kania heard a grunt of effort, and the tall kett was hurled into his two comrades. Kania staggered to her feet, aimed in the vague direction of the kett on the ground, and fired off a handful of shots.

"Stop shooting at My Dick!" Geta shouted at her, slotting a fresh thermal clip into his shotgun.

"What?" Kania stopped and stared at the engineer through her slightly blurred vision. "You called a turret 'My Dick'?"

"I like to make it knock into people's heads," Geta shrugged. He wandered lazily over to the trio of kett tangled on the ground, and placed the barrel of his shotgun against the leathery grey skin of the large alien. "Then I can say I smacked them in the head with My Dick."

The shotgun boomed, the sound of shattering bone filling the air.

"You're weird," Kania shook her head. An intense, painful ache flared in her skull. Kania rested her hands on her knees, bending over in preparation for the vomit that was likely about to end up in the sand at her feet. The shotgun boomed again, then once more. Bone cracked. Blood splattered the engineer's boots.

"You doing okay there?"

Kania glanced up into Peebee's curious blue eyes. She nodded curtly, and quickly stepped away from her. She kept her distance, taking deep breaths. "I'm fine. We should… we should help the others."

"Maybe no running in headfirst this time," Geta shot her a glare, but he was smiling nonetheless, surveying the field ahead of them.

"What are you grinning at?" Kania snapped at him.

"New worlds, a new galaxy, new races," Geta shrugged. "Even if Vespasian got blown all over your chest and face –"

"Really?" Kania sighed. "Now?"

"Too soon?" Geta chuckled. He saw the icy glint in her eyes, and immediately stopped. "People die. Get over it."

"Just fucking move out," Kania shoved the engineer aside.

The kett had been considerably thinned out. Only eight of the original twenty remained, but they were still putting the team under pressure. They had split into three groups – two teams of two pushed around the flanks, while a team of four pressed up the centre. Without a word, Kania sprinted across the sands towards the nearest flanking group. Her boots sank deep into the soft dunes, and she pumped her legs furiously, fighting through the pain in her muscles.

"Why run when you can fly," Geta laughed in her earpiece. Kania glanced up, and saw him feathering the thruster on his back as he drifted back down to the ground ten metres ahead of her. "These things are _awesome_!"

"I thought you said not to act recklessly?" Kania glowered at him, flaring her own jetpack into life and skimming across the dunes. To her left, Peebee skipped along with her biotics.

"I told _you_ not to act recklessly," Geta reminded her, somersaulting through the air and landing with the grace of a dancer. "I'm free to be me."

"Take Peebee and deal with the four in the centre. I'll get these two."

"Your call, Pathfinder."

"Don't call me that," Kania snapped at the engineer as he jumped away, whooping with laughter.

Kania pulled her rifle from her shoulder – a customised Phaeston, the standard weapon of the turian military. She thumbed a button on the side of the rifle, and the weapon began to slide out of its compacted state. Panels sprang out and clicked into place as Kania feathered her jetpack to slow her fall. She darted towards the two kett pressing towards the left side of the enormous angular pillars. They were advancing slowly, but surely. One laid down covering fire while the other darted for cover amongst the wreckage. By the corner of a pillar, Kania could faintly see the scarred visage of Pertinax peering out. However, as soon as so much as a mandible peeked into view, the kett sent a hail of fire in his direction, forcing Pertinax back into cover. Kania leaped forwards, her jumpjet bursting into life and closing the distance. Ignoring the rifle in her hand, Kania dropped down onto the nearest kett boot first, grinding its windpipe into the ground. As the other twisted around in surprise, Kania levelled her rifle at it. Before she could pull the trigger, however, a small, dark object the size of a small rock struck the kett in the head and stuck there. The alien staggered to one side, swiping at the object.

Then it exploded.

Venomous green blood splattered the ground, dripping from what remained of the kett's torso. Bone fragments blasted through the air like shrapnel, vaporising on Kania's shields. The kett's head, left arm, and most of the left side of its chest and abdomen had simply disappeared in the blast. Kania gasped as a sharp pain burst into life in her thigh, and she staggered away from the kett under her boot. The hilt of a short dagger protruded from her leg. Kania wrenched the dagger out of her leg, then stalked back to the kett, adrenaline coursing through her like fire. She swung the rifle around, the barrel connecting hard with the kett's head as it tried to get to its feet. The kett was flipped onto its back, a deep crack in the bony growth by its temple. She dropped to her knees by the kett, bringing the sharp edge of the rifle butt down on the kett's face, letting out her rage and pain.

"Fuck you!" Kania screamed, smashing the rifle butt into the kett again and again, pulping those cold, pale, emotionless eyes and the tough, leathery skin into a mush of green, grey, and white, littered liberally with chips of bone. "Fucking fuck you! Fucking piece of fucking shit!"

"I think it's dead." Kania's head snapped up. Peebee was standing over her.

"You're supposed to be helping Geta," Kania growled at her.

The asari shrugged. "He seems fine."

Kania glanced over to the middle of the battlefield, where Geta's drone was bouncing between the three remaining kett taking cover in the wreckage of the Pathfinder Team's shuttle. Every now and then, a crack echoed around them as Alexia's rifle pumped a heavy, anti-materiel shell into the twisted black metal. Pinned down by Alexia, and distracted by his turret, Geta was casually picking off the kett with blasts from his M-77 Paladin pistol. Kania could see the red dot from his laser sight flashing on the leathery skin of the kett. As she watched, the torso of one alien exploded. Geta looked, astounded, at his pistol. Then Pertinax tapped him on the shoulder, shouldering his M-37 Falcon as he did so.

Kania made for the opposite flank, but the injured leg collapsed underneath her, the pain too unbearable to walk on. Kania's hands struck the soft sand, sinking a few inches deep. Peebee reached for the turian, intending to help her up, but Kania slapped the asari's hands away with a snarl.

"Not much of a people-person, are you?" Peebee cocked her head at Kania, as the turian grit her teeth and pushed herself up.

"I get that a lot," Kania grimaced, staggering forwards and ignoring the pain in her leg. "Come on."

"Hey, you need medical attention!" Peebee called after her.

"My medic is currently getting shot at," Kania growled. "This counts as going to see her. Happy?"

"Well, no, not really!"

After a few more steps, the pain proved too much. Kania collapsed to the ground, blood oozing from the gap in her armour the kett had managed to hit. So she began to crawl, the blood dripping from her leg leaving a dark trail behind her. In spite of the turian's snarls, Peebee ducked under Kania's arm, the thin asari proving surprisingly capable of supporting a turian in full armour. Across the battlefield, Kania saw Lucia drag one of the encroaching kett out of cover with her biotics. The alien kicked and flailed as the biotic field tugged and twisted it around as if the alien was a puppet on a string. Proximo popped up from behind a low hexagonal-shaped wall, his rifle levelled at the floating. There was a dull thud, and the alien was sent flying through the air as the concussive round struck it squarely in the chest. It landed some fifty metres away on its neck. The crack was audible even from Kania's position on the other side of the structure. The final kett popped its head out of cover, and was greeted with a veritable hailstorm. Wreathed in a blue-purple sheen, the kett floated up into the air by his ankle, as though an invisible hand had plucked him from the earth. A small, dark object struck the kett in its face, causing him to spin around lazily, just as another concussive shot blasted the alien through the air. There was a deep, booming gunshot, and then the kett simply vanished, leaving behind an acidic green mist.

Peebee dragged Kania over to the strange place where the team had taken cover. Salvaged crates lay scattered around the area, most of them broken open for ammunition, grenades, and rations. Peebee laid her down against a triangular protrusion, then stepped back and rested on her haunches, a wide smile on her face.

"What's so funny?" Kania grimaced. Lucia swept over, scowling at Proximo.

"If my gamble on you guys pays off," Peebee grinned. Kania hissed in pain as medigel flooded into her wound. "I'm going to make the biggest find in… like, ever!"

"Where's Vespasian?" Alexia stepped over to Kania, ignoring Peebee. Her visor was shattered, exposing one eye that swept over Kania like a searchlight.

"Dead," Kania grunted. She indicated the congealed blood on her breastplate. "Suffice to say, it was messy."

"Shit," Proximo growled, shouldering his rifle.

Lucia's head twitched, a shadow of a smile on her face. The news seemed no surprise to Pertinax, however. No doubt he had already learned from Geta. The pair were already stockpiling supplies, laying out thermal clips, weapons, grenades, rations, water, and scientific equipment. Peebee reached out to grab something, but Geta slapped her hand away with a reproving glare.

"So that means…" Alexia glared at Kania. "You're the Pathfinder."

"I don't _want_ to be the Pathfinder!" Kania snapped back at her. "I don't want that responsibility!"

"But you're the XO," Proximo grunted. "You had to at least… expect this."

"This?" Kania laughed hollowly. "How the fuck could I expect _this_?"

"Well what were you expecting?" Alexia snarled at her. "An easy ride, like in the hastatim? Well fucking heads-up, I don't think there are any fucking babies to kill out here!"

"You watch your fucking mouth!" Kania shouted at Alexia.

"Or what?" Alexia laughed. "What the fuck are you going to do?"

"Rip your fucking mandibles off!" Kania spat, making to stand up.

"Just fucking –"

A trio of gunshots drowned Alexia out. Everyone looked at Geta, who slotted a fresh thermal clip into his pistol.

"Can the pair of you please," Geta said with a great deal of forced calm. "Just find a room, and fuck these issues out."

"I actually don't know how to respond to that," Kania shook her head.

"Besides, we're all fucked anyway," Alexia sighed. "No Pathfinder, no Nexus, no Golden World, no fucking plan!" Alexia wrenched off her helmet, and hurled it across the platform. The helmet slid across the smooth surface, rattling each time it struck a groove between the hexagonal plates. "Let's face it, we're fucking fucked!"

Kania felt the ground shake beneath her. In the centre of the large, hexagonal slab that sat between the pillars, a triangular pillar rose up, much like the one Kania lay against. The painkillers in the medigel dulled the ache in Kania's leg, but it still hurt to put any serious pressure on it as she pushed herself to her feet and limped towards to pillar. Peebee raced forwards, hands and eyes flitting over every inch of the pillar, her face lit up with joy and unbridled curiosity.

"Peebee, be careful," Kania grunted, reaching out a hand.

Unbidden, her omnitool burst into life. An excruciating pain burst, searing, into life in Kania's head. She screamed in pain, dropping to her knees and holding her head between her hands, shaking violently. Blood dripped down her face from her nose, splattering the ground. Kania tipped backwards, her eyeballs rolling in their sockets. A pair of hands caught her beneath her arms, lowering her gently to the ground. All she could hear was intense, crackling static. The last thing she saw was Peebee's face drawn taut in concern, as a bright, white light burst into life high above the asari's head. Then Kania's eyes rolled back into her skull. Darkness consumed her. From the empty blackness, a cool, collected voice spoke.

"Hello, Pathfinder Felix. My name is SAM."


	8. Chapter 8

"Will she be okay?"

"Who the fuck are you?"

"I'll share if you –"

"Lieutenant Alexia Verus, PhD. Who the fuck are you?"

"Peebee… just Peebee."

"As in…"

"As in peanut butter. Yeah."

"A fucking asari. Just what we need."

"Hey, what's your problem?"

"Ignore him. Proximo, shut the fuck up and go back to scowling. What are you doing here? Are you a colonist?"

"Sort of. Not exactly. Not really. No. So what happened to Kania?"

"The SAM node on the Natanus was disabled when we hit… whatever we hit. It's only just reconnected now. Lucia is handing out painkillers for the headaches. Expect some static shocks, and minor interference with any omnitool tech applications."

"Why was she hit so badly?"

"The SAM needed to integrate with the Pathfinder. After Vespasian blew his load all over –"

"Not the time, kid."

"For fuck's sake! Does anyone have a sense of humour around here?"

Kania sat on the edge of the raised hexagonal platform, trying to block out the noise and arguing, swinging her boots gently. She rested her head in her hands, eyes shut tight. It was a trick she'd learned in her childhood. The darkness was safe. Nobody could touch her here. Nobody could intrude. At least, that was the idea. Now, she couldn't be certain that she was ever alone. The SAM implants connected the virtual intelligence to every one of her bodily systems, monitoring their functions. It experienced the world through her. Kania could never truly be alone again. She punched at the strange material beneath her. The pain jolted her into feeling again. Rage was coursing through her veins. Building, rising, overflowing.

"Geta!" She shouted, without turning around. "Get over here."

The voices died down. There was a scuff of armour on the platform, then footsteps. The engineer sat down next to her. Kania saw that Geta consciously made sure he was outside punching range. "What do you need?"

"I want the SAM out of my head," Kania growled at her boots. "I don't want to be the Pathfinder. I don't want the responsibility, the role, the fucking attention. All of it. I want it gone."

Geta grimaced, then said hesitantly, "That might prove problematic."

"I don't care," Kania snarled. "I don't want a fucking VI in my head."

"The connection with the Pathfinder is a much deeper connection," Geta said slowly, brushing sand from his armour. Kania grimaced. She could almost feel the fucking VI bouncing around inside her head. "If the connection is broken, there will be massive trauma."

"Can we define 'massive trauma' for the purposes of this conversation?" Kania asked, already tasting the bitterness of defeat. "Just to be sure."

"Due to the depth of the integration, and the toll it would take on your body to remove the thing," Geta sighed, rubbing his brow. "You'll suffer severe bleeding in the brain. Maybe cardiac arrest. Definitely death."

"Shit." Kania grimaced, holding her head in her hands. "So I'm stuck with it?"

"For the time being." Through her fingers, Kania saw Geta hug one knee to his chest. "Anyway, we should get moving soon."

"Alexia!" Kania shouted over her shoulder. "Come here!"

"Be nice to her," Geta said quietly. "She's had it rough since we crashed."

"What do you mean?"

"She didn't know what had happened to us," the technician continued in the same uncharacteristically quiet tone. "For all she knew, we were dead, and she was going to be the Pathfinder. Of course, she was sort of right. At least, in Vespasian's case. Just don't be… well, yourself."

At the mention of Vespasian's name, Kania felt as though a bucket of ice had just been emptied over her head. Her breathing grew short and shallow, her eyes snapped wildly from side to side. She sank onto her haunches and forced her eyes closed. The darkness was safe. Nobody could touch her here. Nobody could intrude. She was completely alone. Breathe in. Breathe out. Relax. Kania slammed a hand down onto the platform. The impact stung her skin, even through the gauntlet, but the pain distracted her from thinking about Vespasian's headless corpse collapsing onto her, pumping blood onto her visor. It stopped her thinking of being trapped beneath a body, unable to escape, only able to scream. Geta watched impassively as Kania shook the feeling back into her hand.

"What do you want?"

Kania glanced up at Alexia. The sharpshooter's grey eyes stared down at her. Impassive, emotionless, dead. They reminded her of the kett. Kania felt Geta's gaze on her, and sighed. "Tell the others to get ready to move. Have Marcus work out what we can take with us in the shuttle, and what we'll have to leave behind."

Alexia nodded curtly, and made to turn away, but stopped suddenly. "How's the leg?"

"I got fucking stabbed," Kania growled at her. "How the fuck do you think it is?"

The sharpshooter shook her head, and stalked away. Geta cleared his throat loudly from next to Kania. In one swift movement, Kania closed the gap between them, and punched Geta squarely in the jaw. He toppled backwards, sprawling in the sand. Kania stood over the engineer, who propped himself up on one elbow, rubbing his jaw.

"Never," Kania snarled at Geta, leaning over him. " _Never_! Tell me what to do." She snapped out an omniblade, holding the blazing orange weapon inches from Geta's throat. The engineer swallowed heavily. "Am I _clear_?"

"Yeah," Geta said quietly, eyeing the blade carefully. "Crystal."

"Glad we cleared that up." Kania deactivated the blade and offered Geta a hand. "Come on."

She pulled Geta up off the floor, and led the way back to the group. Alexia turned to face Kania as she approached, her gaze filled with contempt and hostility.

"Marcus has laid out all the kit we can fit in the shuttle. We'll bury the rest here so nobody can scavenge it." She shot a piercing glare at Peebee. "If she can give us the coordinates of the Nexus, we can be underway within the hour."

"Hey, I made a deal with you people," Peebee snapped. "My shuttle for your help."

"We need to return to the Ark," Alexia snarled at the asari. "Deal with it."

"Well then, I'm not telling you where the Nexus is." Peebee pouted.

"Oh, you'll fucking tell us," Alexia said quietly, towering over Peebee. The asari stepped backwards, but her boots struck the cold metallic, triangular console. Alexia drew out a long, thin blade from the small of her back, and placed the tip at Peebee's throat. "In fact, you'll fucking scream it."

With a snarl, Kania grabbed Alexia by the collar and pulled her away from Peebee. "Lex, go wait by the shuttle."

"Vespasian wouldn't have fucked up like this," Alexia muttered, sheathing the blade.

"Well he's not fucking here!" Kania shouted at her.

"And whose fault is that?" Alexia snapped back.

Kania rounded on Geta, hands curling into fists. "What the fuck did you tell her?"

"Nothing," Alexia said, a hint of hollow laughter in her voice. "Nothing at all."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kania growled at the sharpshooter.

"You're a loose-cannon." Alexia shrugged. "Those fuckers have twitchy trigger-fingers, sure, but Spirits, if anyone was going to kick off the firefight in the first place…"

Kania stared in shock. She didn't know what to say. She wanted to deny it, say it was all bullshit – it _was_ all bullshit. But her tongue wouldn't work. Since Vespasian had died, it had seemed periodically glued in place. Incapable of making so much as a squeak. Kania looked around at the group. Accusation glinted in their eyes. Anger was rising in Kania's breast again, threatening to spill out.

But this time, there were no walls to punch.

The two jetpacks flared at the same time, and the pair crashed together, spitting and snarling. The jumpjets cut out, sending the pair crashing to the ground. Kania's head snapped to one side as Alexia delivered a shattering punch to her jaw. Tasting blood, Kania smashed her head into Alexia's brow, the plates cracking together. There was a sudden blast of energy - blue, purple, black, white. Kania was thrown across the platform, her armour screeching and clicking as it slid across the grooved surface. She reached the end of the platform, and tipped over the edge, landing painfully on the sandy ground. Spitting out blood, Kania pushed herself to her feet. Lucia stood in the middle of the platform, her body wreathed in blue fire.

"Will both of you stop it!" Lucia screamed, looking from Alexia to Kania. The Cabalite wobbled unsteadily on her shaking legs, but remained firm. "We shouldn't be fighting each other! We're supposed to be a team, and we're tearing at each other's throats! We shouldn't be like this!"

"She right," Marcus said, helping Alexia up from the opposite side of the platform. "We need to work together."

"Even with the fucking asari?" Proximo asked, glaring at Peebee.

"Especially with the fucking asari," Kania growled, shrugging off Geta's proffered hand and pulling herself back up onto the platform.

"This fucking asari is your only ticket off this planet right now," Peebee snapped at him. "So you better watch your tone."

"So," Alexia glared at Kania as they converged. "What's your grand plan to get us off this fucking hellscape?"

"Simple," Kania shrugged. "We help Peebee. Like I suggested before."

"And agreed to," Peebee added.

"Fine." Alexia snapped. "What do you need?"

"Three bodies, some guns," the asari shrugged. "That VI you've got."

"What do you need the SAM for?" Kania frowned.

"Didn't you see?" Peebee pointed up at the white light in the centre of the three angular pillars. "The SAM activated this place!"

"I have a few questions about that," Geta folded his arms. "What happened there? Why did SAM activate it without Kania telling him to?"

"I decrypted the language and tested my theory," SAM replied coolly in the ears of the turians. "This is monolith has two counterparts in the near vicinity. I have marked the NavPoints."

"You shouldn't be able to do any of that without Kania's permission," Geta growled. "You're a VI. You're only supposed to provide analysis of scientific samples."

There was a pause.

"I am not a virtual intelligence."

"Then that means…" the detective's eyes were wide with shock.

"What?" Peebee's eyes flickered around the shocked turians, unable to hear the conversation. "What does it mean?"

"The SAM is an artificial intelligence," Geta explained snappily. "But artificial intelligences are banned by Council Law, and for fucking good reason. Look at the geth! I was on the Citadel when they attacked."

"Thousands died there," Marcus said, anger lacing his voice. " _Thousands_ … how do we know this one is any different?"

"I assure you all," SAM replied in his cold, calm, and collected voice, "That I harbour no intentions of ending your lives."

"Except we don't know that," Geta shot back. "Artificial intelligences can lie. You could be planning to kill us right now."

"I can only offer my assurances. As organics are prone to saying, you will have to take me at my word."

"See, it's referring to us as 'organics' that really makes me think you're not all that friendly."

"How else should I collectively refer to all organic life?"

Geta's fists clenched and unclenched as he tried to think of a comeback, then he spat on the ground, conceding the point to the AI.

Lucia tapped Alexia on the arm, and whispered something in her ear. The sharpshooter nodded, and then said, "Lucia wants to know why Vespasian didn't tell us you were an AI."

"I'm curious about that myself," Kania frowned. "We were only told that you were a virtual intelligence – just for scientific analysis and body regulation. Nothing more."

"Major Vespasian felt it best that my true nature not be revealed so that the implants would not be resisted. He feared that if you were aware that I was an artificial intelligence, you may have reservations about them."

"And for good reason," Geta snapped. "When we get back to the Ark, I'm fucking shutting you down!"

"That would not be advisable."

"And why –," Geta's eyes settled on Kania. "Oh shit."

"Severe bleeding in the brain. Maybe cardiac arrest. Definitely death," Kania recited. She could feel the anger bubbling in the pit of her stomach. Vespasian had dumped yet another fucking mess on her. If he'd only let her shoot the kett, she wouldn't have to deal with this shit. "So. We're stuck with it."

"For now," Geta said bitterly. "Anyway, where are we going?"

"Peebee?" Kania glanced at the asari.

"We've activated one of these things," Peebee gestured to the bright light above them. "There's two more in the area. If we can get them online…"

"Yes?" Kania prompted the asari, who had rather abruptly trailed off.

"What?" Peebee looked confused by the question.

"We get them online," Alexia shrugged. "Then what?"

"Then… I don't know. We see what happens!"

Kania sighed. "Fine. Geta, you'll drop me off with Peebee, Lucia, and Marcus at one site; then take Proximo and Alexia to the other."

"Hey, it's still my ship!" Peebee reminded her, hands on her hips.

"If you want this done," Kania snapped at the asari, "Then the guy that crashed the last shuttle is flying it this time!"

"You crashed _another_ shuttle?" Marcus turned to Geta. "How the fuck did you manage it this time?"

"I was in a sandstorm!" Geta said defensively.

"I knew I shouldn't have let you fly it," Marcus growled.

"What do you mean ' _let me fly it'_?"

"I should have spoken to Vespasian about this. You're far too reckless."

"I am not!"

"Yes, you are!"

"Boys, as much as I'd like to see how this plays out," Kania cleared her throat. "We should get moving. Geta, start up the shuttle. Peebee, Alexia, sort out the scientific equipment – _no fighting_! Marcus – rations. Proximo, get the weapons, ammunition, whatever."

They moved away, murmuring amongst themselves. Lucia stood, still as a statue, letting the group flow around her. Kania's stomach lurched as she realized that she had forgotten about the young Cabalite. She locked eyes with Kania for a moment, then they flicked to the ground. Kania reached out for Lucia's shoulder, but she jerked out of reach, and half-ran away to the shuttle. Kania dropped her arm to her side, and watched her go.

* * *

"Passana?"

"Nope."

"Phyllis?"

"Ew, no! So much no!"

"Peranna? Pastoria? Ponolia?"

"Nope! Nope! Nope!"

"…"

"You give up… I wanna say… Martinax?"

"Lieutenant Marcus Pertinax. And yes, I give up. For now, at least."

"I'm calling you Martinax from now on."

"Peebee, what are you actually doing here?"

"Looking at those… things! Aren't they incredible?"

"Sure. If you say so."

"Well aren't you just all smiles?"

"I'm a very stressed turian that _still_ has her predecessor's brains and blood splattered across her chest. I'm not in the mood for jokes right now."

"Seltzer water and lemon for blood."

"Thanks, Proximo. Thanks a lot."

"Or just wear red."

"I'd still have blood on me, Geta!"

"Yeah… but you'd go faster."

"I'm not getting into this argument again."

"But you would!"

"Kid, shut up and open the fucking door, before you crash another shuttle."

"Third time's the charm, Marcus! Third time's the charm."

"And _be careful_!"

"Yeah, yeah…"

Kania's boots hit the sand, then sank several inches below the surface. Cursing profusely, Kania flared her jumpjet, and burst forwards towards the structure. To her right, Lucia and Pertinax were taking long leaps across the sands with their jetpacks. To her left, Peebee was floating along using her biotics. Kania's eyes swept the area. There were no kett in sight. The sun flashed blindingly on the mirrored surface of the lake. A faint wind rustled across the sands. Half of the platform was buried in sand, including part of the console set between the pillars.

"Does anyone else thinks it's too quiet?" Kania muttered.

"No," Peebee replied brightly. "About the right amount of quiet actually. Hey, Martinax?"

"Marcus," the C-Sec officer corrected her.

"Yeah, whatever," Peebee shrugged. "What's your kid's problem with AI?"

"He's not my kid," Marcus said defensively.

"You do call him that an awful lot," Lucia's voice whispered, barely louder than the wind brushing the sands.

"Well, that's because…" Marcus seemed at a loss for words. "I do that with everyone!"

"Not with me," Kania said, landing on the platform, and staggering slightly with the impact.

"You don't do it with me either," Lucia whispered, landing neatly beside her.

"Anyway," Marcus growled, "He was on the Citadel during the geth attack. The E-crimes division saw a lot of action – hacking the geth platforms, creating chokepoints with turrets. They used the keeper tunnels – the kid… Geta lost his… partner... when an emergency bulkhead shut down on him. It was messy."

"So… touchy subject?" Peebee cocked her head.

"You could say that."

"SAM, can you…" Kania began, but her omnitool was already flaring into life. "Yeah… that. It's not disturbing at all that you just go and do that…"

"It was my belief that you would instruct me to activate the monolith," SAM replied coolly. "I have a partially complete alphabet and the beginnings of a linguistic system for this race."

"The logic is infallible," Kania said through gritted teeth, watching a bright white light burst into life above the three angular fins of the structure. "But I'd still rather you didn't do it without my permission."

"My apologies, Pathfinder. Should I erase all the data I have gathered without your permission?"

"SAM, I'm going to make one thing very clear, and then I'll move onto answering that question." Kania choked back the anger and forced herself to speak calmly. The worst thing about arguing with an AI, she had decided, was the inability to give it an icy glare. She made do by glaring at a sand-covered piece of junk. The sun flashed over some sort of lens. "You will _never_ , under any circumstances, refer to me as the Pathfinder. As far as I'm concerned, the turian Pathfinder is slowly decomposing in a deserted outpost." There was a pause, during which Kania felt the eyes of her three companions on her back. Kania kicked the piece of junk. "Secondly…"

She trailed off as the lens suddenly flickered into life. An angry red orb stared up at Kania. From beneath the sands slid, a long, scaled, metal tentacle. It flickered in the sun – flashing brightly like a crescent ray of light. The tentacle darted out at her, and Kania dodged to one side, the talons flitting past. One claw sliced deep into her right cheek, the razor-sharp material cutting through her skin as if it were paper. Blood poured down her face in heavy, thick drops. It followed the curves and crevices of her face, the slid down a mandible and dripped from the end. There was a sizzling sound as it struck Kania's now-exposed omni-blade, but the blazing-hot weapons didn't come close to the fire burning in Kania's eyes.

"Terms of engagement?" Marcus asked. The sand spilled out across the platform. Three more of the jellyfish-like things drifted out, sand falling like water from every nook and cranny.

"Fucking kill them all!" Kania screamed to them.

Light was building in the orb in front of her. Growing, pulsing, flaring like a supernova. Bullets and beams of red light flashing around her, mixed with the purple-blue of Lucia and Peebee's biotic lances. Kania sprang forwards, shrieking a blood-curdling scream. She ducked her head under a scything tentacle that threatened to decapitate her, eyes fixed on the orb-like eye. Another tentacle sliced through the air. Kania twisted around it and swept up a blade. The omni-blade sliced cleanly through the tentacle, the talon clanging as it struck the platform. Kania's second omni-blade lanced the unblinking red orb like a boil. The glass lens shattered.

The energy in the eye was unleashed, and the force threw Kania and the now-lifeless jellyfish creature apart. Her kinetic barrier exploded under the strain, and the laser began to eat into her armour. The plates blackened and cracked under the heat. Kania screamed as pure, blinding, searing pain swept up her arm. She struck the platform and skimmed off the surface like a pebble across a lake. Kania's journey was halted by the sand surrounding the platform. The grains dug into the scorched flesh, scraping the wounds, and tearing a scream of pain from Kania's lungs. A hand grabbed her around the collar of her armour, dragging her through the sands.

"Geta, we need you back here now!" Marcus shouted from above Kania. "Kania is injured! We are taking fire from an unknown enemy, we need evac now!"

"We might be a while," the detective responded tersely.

"We don't have time to fuck around, Geta!" Kania shouted, gritting her teeth as a fresh wave of pain flooded across her arm. Her throat felt as though she'd just swallowed a glass of razor blades.

"SAM activated the… whatever the fuck it is. But we ran into some scavengers," Geta's voice was strained. "Alexia was hit. We need to get her into surgery."

"Get her to the Ark, then come back for us," Marcus said, rolling Kania against the cover of the platform. Kania hissed as more granules of sand grated against her flesh. "We'll hold them."

She heard shouting on the radio, but couldn't make out the words. Through a vision distorted by tears of pain, Kania saw a beam of red light blaze across the sky above her.

"Good luck."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Apologies if anyone got the email alert twice, there were some site issues when I first added the chapter. Enjoy.**

* * *

"Initiative Court Hearing 159 is now in session, Chief Justice T'Sorah presiding. Case concerning Contact Incident H1-66, and the position of Kania Felix as the turian Pathfinder. I will first recount the facts provided in Pathfinder Felix's post-incident report, with additional information from the testimonies of witnesses Marcus Pertinax, Cabalite Lucia Trajan, and Pelessaria B'Sayle."

* * *

 **Natanus Arrival Day + 5 hours.**

"ETA eight minutes."

"Not good enough, kid, I need you here now!"

"Well, if you let me paint the shuttle red…"

"Nobody is painting _my_ shuttle red!"

"You're no fun at all, Peebee. What's Kania's condition?"

"I don't know. Lucia?"

"Severe burns to her arm. I've sent the scans on to the Natanus."

Fire was coursing through Kania, sending waves of pain flaring through her body with every breath. She leaned her head back against the pillar, and grit her teeth. Her right arm was smouldering, the stench of burned flesh filling her nostrils. From her left, she heard Marcus shouting orders to Peebee and Lucia. Kania struggled to her feet, fighting through the pain in her body with every inch of movement. She breathed deeply, and leaned against the pillar, waiting for the pain to subside. Curiously, her still-smoking arm felt completely free of pain.

At the next pillar, Kania saw Peebee peek her head out to survey the platform, then duck back as a blinding burst of red light flashed past. Kania saw one of the jellyfish-like things drifting slowly towards Peebee, its legs drifting lazily behind it. Burning with an intoxicating concoction of pain and rage, Kania flared her jumpjet, soaring across the platform. In her peripheral vision, she could see bursts of red and the flash of Lucia's biotic lances. As she struck the platform, Kania stumbled, regained her balance, then sprinted towards the jellyfish-thing encroaching on Peebee.

Just as the jellyfish-thing turned to face Kania, she collided with it with a crunch, and then a screech of metal on metal as Kania smashed it against the platform. The tentacles hammered wildly against Kania's armour as she beat against it with her blackened and smoking right arm in a frenzy of pain and rage, neither thinking nor caring about the fact that she was beating against a solid meta shell, and desiring only to inflict as much damage on the thing as possible. A flailing talon struck the side of Kania's head, spattering blood across the jellyfish-thing and the platform, drawing a cry of pain from the turian.

Kania burned with cold, icy rage as she saw her blood dripping onto the dented metal of the thing's underside. She grabbed the offending tentacle, stamped a boot onto the jellyfish to brace herself, then wrenched the tentacle from its socket. The thing let out a screech of static, as though it were screaming in pain. The tentacles swiped at the air more furiously than ever. Kania felt them hammering on her legs, but in her fury paid no attention to them.

With a shriek of pain and rage, Kania stamped down on its orb-like eye. The glass cracked, and Kania stamped down again and again, shattering the lens, and drawing out stuttering screeches of panic. The tentacles beating against her grew weaker, but Kania was in no mood to give this thing a slow death. She dropped to her knees and stabbed the talons of the tentacle into the underbelly of the thing. It gave out a last, shuddering scream of static, then the tentacles clanged limply to the platform. Kania took a deep, shaking breath, and looked around.

Peebee was staring at her, wide-eyed and open-mouthed. Kania opened her mouth to say something, but the words stuck in her throat. She could see the astonishment, the accusation, the wariness and caution. Kania knew the look. Even her subordinates in the hastatim had given her that look on occasion. Kania swallowed heavily, and tried to speak again, but as before, nothing came out. A faint dripping noise broke the awkward silence, like the first drops of rain before a storm. Kania looked down, and saw dark blue blood pouring down around her feet.

"Kania!"

She spun on her heel, catching sight of Lucia struggling to hold up Marcus, and then a wave of pain crashed onto her. Kania fell to her hands and knees, a silent scream contorting her face into a grotesque imitation of its proud stoicism. Kania's anger was washed away as white-hot knives seem to stab into points all across her body. She felt something warm flowing down her face. A drop of blood fell from Kania's jaw, landing heavily on the sandy platform, and staining the pale sand a deep shade of blue.

"Lucia Trajan to Natanus MO," the biotic shouted from somewhere near Kania. "Update on Pathfinder Felix."

"Go ahead." Crackled the reply.

"Multiple lacerations," Lucia stated. Her voice was completely devoid of its whispering, timid nature. Instead it was harsh. Cold and clinical. Like a scalpel. "Applying one dose of military-issue Sirta Foundation medigel. Recommend blood transfusion."

"Copy that, prepping a blood pack."

"Peebee!" Lucia shouted, "Stop fucking staring and come here."

Kania's arms shook, and then collapsed beneath her. The sand covering the platform grew damp. Soothing coolness spread throughout her body, numbing the pain.

"I've applied medigel," Lucia said in the same oddly cold and clinical voice. "I need to go check on Marcus. Make sure she doesn't move before Geta gets here."

"I don't think that's going to be a problem." A small hand stroked at Kania's cheek. "Hey, don't go dying on me."

Kania's burned and blackened hand closed around Peebee's delicate one, holding it in place. Kania's initial reaction had been to move away the asari's hand, remove the contact, keep everything arms-length. Instead, she held it there, savouring the coolness. In the distance, Kania heard the roar of engines.

* * *

"Please state your –"

"Alexia Verus, PhD. I… I don't really know what rank I am, right now."

"But you are a member of the –"

"Pathfinder team? For now, anyway."

"Can you please describe the events of Natanus Arrival Day 0 –"

"Can you be more specific?"

"Perhaps if you let us finish –"

"We all know this about Kania, so just fucking get to the point."

"Alright. Let's start with Pathfinder Felix's mental con-"

"I'm not that kind of doctor."

"We're looking for more of a general impression. Did she seem... troubled?"

"Are you fucking serious? Did you read her medical report? Do you think anyone _wouldn't_ get fucked up by that?"

* * *

 **Natanus Arrival Date + 9 hours.**

"You suffered severe burns to much of your right arm. Some of your armour fused to your exoskeleton… we had to cut it away."

"…"

"The burns were severe enough to cause nerve damage. We've repaired the tissues as best we can with cybernetics, but it's unlikely you'll ever feel anything from your elbow-down. I'd advise you to be careful – you may not realise you've been injured until you see it.

"…"

"You also suffered multiple lacerations - seventeen, I believe, was the final number - but fortunately nothing vital was hit. We stitched them up, and the antibiotics in the medigel your medic applied should keep them from getting infected. We transfused some blood to replace what you lost."

"..."

"Depending on how quickly you recover, you'll be clear for active service in five to seven days."

"…"

"You're currently suffering from shock. That's expected, given what you went through. We'll keep you in here overnight, and then you'll be installed in your quarters tomorrow."

"…"

"Lieutenant Verus is stable for the time being – she might be up to talking. She's in the bed next to yours. Lieutenant Pertinax is currently in surgery."

"…"

The door snapped shut.

The noise was amplified by the silence.

Almost as loud as a gunshot.

A gunshot that hit its target 0.237248 seconds after it was fired.

A gunshot that its target heard 0.58309 seconds after it was fired.

The impact force of a bullet fired from a Black Widow sniper rifle is calculated through the following equation:

F = 2mv/t

The mass of a .50 calibre bullet is 42 grams, or 0.042kg.

The velocity of a bullet fired from a Black Widow sniper rifle is 853 metres per second.

A bullet spends less than 0.01 seconds passing through a turian's leg.

This equates to a force (F) of 7165.2 Newtons, or 7.1652 kilonewtons.

More than enough to shatter kinetic barriers, armour, muscle, and bone.

Kania felt an excruciating pain stab into her leg. Her mouth was pried open in a silent scream, as she clutched at her thigh. She rocked back on the thin bed, curling up into a ball. Everything was blocked out by the pain. Like pure alcohol, it burned through everything. Memories, thoughts, and feelings were swept away, like tears in the rain.

"Kania!"

A shout pierced the veil of pain. Kania's eyes snapped open. Alexia was sitting up in her bed, staring at her in shock, chest thickly bandaged, an IV drip feeding into her arm. Kania scrambled away, eyes rolling in their sockets. Her hand met thin air, and Kania found herself falling.

Falling into nothingness.

There was a certain bliss in it. An emptiness. No troubles or worries. No anything.

Then Kania struck the floor with a crunch of armour. Alexia snorted. The floor pressed against Kania's cheek was cool and comforting after the fiery pain in her leg. She breathed in deeply, and smelled blood. Kania opened her eyes. Dark blue blood was oozing from a deep cut across her hand. The gauze covering it was ripped and stained with blood. Kania had suffered her share of injuries. She knew which ones should leave her screaming in pain.

"Shit," Alexia muttered, leaning over to look at the wound as Kania threw her hand up onto the bed, splashing blood across the clean, white sheets. "We should get Doctor… whatever his name is."

Kania didn't say anything. She crossed to a cabinet at the far end of the hall, and fumbled for the drawer's handle. Her senseless fingers were clumsy – as though she were wearing a thick rubber glove. Blood dripped softly onto the cold, tiled floor beneath her, spattering Kania's boots. She wrenched open the drawer, prised open a small green box with a white cross emblazoned on it, and snatched out a thin roll of gauze. Pinching the end between her thumb and forefinger, Kania pulled the roll around her hand, but she pulled too tightly. The gauze slipped from between her finger and thumb and fell away.

From behind her, Alexia sighed. "Come here."

Kania's eyes flitted between the limp roll of gauze, and the blood oozing from her hand.

"Bring the first aid kit," Alexia said, the irritation evident in her voice. "And come here."

Kania threw the gauze back into the green box, snapped the lid shut, and took it over to Alexia. This was the first time Kania had ever seen her out of her armour. Without it, Alexia looked thin, even emaciated – it was as though she had been starved for weeks. She took the box, and pulled out an antibacterial wipe. Roughly taking Kania's hand, Alexia wiped away the dark, congealing blood. As Alexia cleaned the wound, Kania noticed dark blotches across her exposed hands and forearms.

Alexia followed Kania's gaze. "I used to work in a chemical processing plant. Sometimes the silver nitrate got under the gloves."

Kania nodded.

"My parents both worked there too. Mum died giving birth to me," Alexia went on, carefully threading a needle. "Dad died… later. Never forgave me for leaving. Never forgave me for anything." Alexia laughed harshly, then glanced up at Kania. "What about you?"

Kania shrugged.

"I heard Doctor… whatever his name is talking," Alexia nodded, pulling the needle through the wound. "Said you were in shock. Never thought I'd see the day you could actually keep your mouth shut."

Kania grimaced.

"Then again," Alexia muttered, "Never thought _that_ shit would come back to bite me, but then..."

Kania looked enquiringly at her.

"It's…" Alexia stopped sewing, thinking hard, her cold, lifeless eyes averted. Then she sighed, and shook her head. "It's nothing. Ignore me."

She tied off the stitch, then clipped the thread with a small pair of scissors.

Kania nudged Alexia with her free hand.

"What?" Alexia snapped at her. "Why do you even care? It's not like it fucking matters!"

Kania shrugged. Alexia shook her head and stabbed the needle through the cut.

Kania nudged her again.

"What do you fucking _want_ from me?" Alexia looked up at her. Her dead eyes locked with Kania's icy blue ones. Alexia sighed, and tied the last stitch. She stretched out a roll of gauze, brought it gently down across the cut, then wrapped it around Kania's hand. "I worked in the processing plant until my service with the 54th, went to study chemistry at Ilio T'Sanza, and stayed for my PhD. The 54th funded my fees there, on the condition I re-enrol as an officer afterwards."

Kania cocked her head inquiringly, motioning for her to continue.

A bemused smile crossed Alexia's face. She seemed to be more animated. "You want to know about my PhD?"

Kania nodded.

"I hold a masters in chemical engineering," Alexia said with barely contained enthusiasm, "My PhD research focused on alternatives to silver nitrate in explosives. Practically destroyed the entire industry in one paper."

Alexia's face suddenly grew stern and cold.

"Hold that," she said curtly. Kania pinned the loose end of the gauze with her opposite thumb, while Alexia cut a strip of zinc oxide tape and stuck the gauze in place. "Well, there you go. You can fuck off now."

* * *

"Name and rank, please?"

"Hosidius Geta. High-flying detective, all-round turian bad-boy, occasional pornographic actor, and –"

"I think that's enough. Can you confirm that you are, at this moment, a member of the Pathfinder team?"

"At this moment? Yeah."

"Can you tell us anything about the Pathfinder team in the days following her wounds?"

"Could you be just a _little_ bit more vague?"

"The witness will refrain from asking impertinent questions!"

"To start, could you explain the reasoning behind your appointment to Acting Pathfinder?"

"Kania got a laser to her arm; Marcus got stabbed in the leg; Alexia got shot in the chest… we sort of ran out of people. The rest of us talked amongst ourselves, and agreed that I'd be the Acting Pathfinder."

"And what was your experience of the position?"

"Baptism by fire."

* * *

 **Natanus Arrival Date + 3 days, 8 hours.**

"I've sent the scans of the colony over! No, I don't know about the fucking colonists! We were getting fucking _shot_ _at_! _FUCK YOU_!"

"…"

"Fucking hell! I've got security hounding me about kett weaponry, anatomy, tactics; I've got research on my ass about soil samples, water samples, the structures – you fucking name it, they're fucking riding me about it; and Captain-Fucking-Janus-Shitting-Artorius is beating me around the fucking head with shit about Peebee, because nobody can fucking find her and she's the only fucking person that knows where the fucking Nexus is!"

"…"

"Sorry, Kania. All this shit… I needed to vent."

"…"

"Okay, I'm starting to get a little freaked out now. You didn't join a cult, did you?"

"…"

"That glare is even scarier when you don't speak…"

"…"

Geta sighed, tossed one of the two datapads he was holding onto the desk, and rubbed his bloodshot eyes. "Fuck, I need some sleep."

Kania gestured to the perfectly-made bed in the Pathfinder's quarters – _her_ quarters, Kania corrected herself. She had moved in two days ago, and still felt uneasy. Too much of it felt like it still belonged to Vespasian. She glanced at the photographs on the bedside cabinet with what Kania presumed to be his family – two older turians, presumably Vespasian's parents, and three younger male turians, including Vespasian himself. Kania guessed the other two were his brothers. All of them were tall and stiff-backed, with gold-trimmed uniforms and rows of medals on their chests. She made a mental note to find an airlock to eject the photographs from.

"Yeah, like they'd leave me in peace for long enough," Geta smiled weakly. "You're officially off-duty for the next four days or so, so everything's landing on me. ."

Kania beckoned at the datapad in his hand.

"Kania, you're supposed to be off-duty…"

She snatched it from his hand, and skimmed through the information request. The Natanus security chief, Titus Cannae, was conveying – in an extremely patronising tone – exactly why he needed information on the kett tactics. Kania was getting pissed off just reading it. The Pathfinder team knew their shit – she'd made sure of that before they'd even left the Milky Way. Kania sized up Geta. The young turian was swaying slightly, apparently struggling to stay upright. His bloodshot eyes were unfocused, moving listlessly around the room. He was practically sleeping on his feet. Kania wondered how much sleep Geta had gotten in the last three days. Abruptly, she grabbed the turian by his collar.

"What the –" Geta had no time to complain as Kania marched him over to the bed, and tossed him onto the mattress. He made to get up, but Kania shot him an icy glare, and Geta reluctantly settled back down onto the bed. In seconds, faint snores were drifting up from his prone form.

Kania checked the second datapad. The Natanus' science team had reported the emergence of another structure in the centre of the lake, and had conducted preliminary investigations into the monoliths around it. With a faint smile, Kania left the datapad on the coffee table in the centre of the room. As she left the room, Kania heard the ensuite bathroom door slide open, and the pad of bare feet on the tiled floor. Glancing back over her shoulder, Kania caught a flash of blue, then the door slid shut.

She wound her way through the Natanus, brushing off anyone that attempted to approach her with sharp glares. She stalked through the medical wing, and headed for the intensive care unit. As she approached her destination, Kania heard the murmur of voices, punctuated by the faint beeping of monitors.

"Has he said anything about Kania?"

"Only that she hasn't spoken for the last… what, three days. Do you think we should –"

"There's nothing we can do, Marcus. She just needs to get through it."

The door slid open silently, and Kania stalked in. Alexia and Marcus jerked apart as they saw her. Marcus' shoulder was thickly bandaged and held in a sling. Kania had read the post-incident report – while she had been beating the shit out of the automaton threatening Peebee, Marcus had put himself between a second automaton and Lucia. It had nearly cut his arm off at the shoulder.

"Kania," Marcus smiled, his scars stretching tightly, and drawing half his face into a grimace. "Good to see you up and about."

Kania tossed the datapad over to him, and it landed neatly on his lap. Marcus looked at it, a troubled expression crossing his face. Alexia's pale, dead eyes were watching Kania. Combined with Alexia's emaciated, corpse-like body, it felt like a skeleton was staring at her. She shrugged off the feeling of being dissected and examined by casting a baleful glare at the sharpshooter. Alexia continued to stare. She didn't seem to need to blink. Marcus nodded, gripped his IV drip in his teeth, and yanked out the tube, then he started to pull off the pads stuck to his chest. The machines beside him let out a long, irritating tone. The door slid open again, and several nurses and a doctor ran in.

"What's going on?" The doctor shouted, as Marcus slid out of bed.

"I'm discharging myself," Marcus grinned at the doctor. "I can manage on my own, doc. This isn't my first rodeo."

"You've just had major surgery," the doctor argued. "You'll risk serious damage, and possibly infection!"

"Oh please," Marcus laughed, brushing away the nurses. "If you don't stop trying to keep me alive, I'll die of boredom!"

Alexia snorted with laughter. Kania briefly wondered if she had actually seen Alexia blink the entire time she'd been in the room.

"You almost lost your arm!" The doctor sighed. "You should be in bed. You _need_ to recover!"

"And other people need these resources," Marcus snapped, gesturing at the IV drip. There was no warmth in his tone. It was harsh, and brusque. "We don't know when we'll find the Nexus, and we don't know how many casualties we'll be taking. Other people need this bed more than I do."

"Fine," the doctor threw up his arms in exasperation, "But I want daily check-ins."

"If we can spare the time," Marcus nodded.

"I will _make_ time," the doctor said through gritted teeth. "I can assure you of that."

"You know," Alexia said, a little sourly. "I think I'm feeling good to go as well."

Kania let slip a rare smile.


End file.
